In a stunning display of resilience and skill, 41-year-old American skiing legend Lindsey Vonn claimed her 84th FIS Alpine Ski World Cup win on Saturday, January 10, 2026, triumphing in the women’s downhill at Zauchensee, Austria. This victory marks her second downhill success of the 2025/26 season and solidifies her position as a leading favorite for the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, just one month away.
The race took place under challenging conditions, with heavy snowfall forcing officials to shorten the course and cancel Friday’s training run. Despite starting from bib number six on a snow-covered piste with limited visibility, Vonn delivered a flawless, aggressive run, clocking a time of 1:06.24. She edged out Norway’s Kajsa Vickhoff Lie by 0.37 seconds, while her American teammate Jacqueline Wiles rounded out the podium in third place (+0.48), securing her first World Cup podium at age 33.
Vonn, who underwent partial knee replacement surgery to enable her remarkable comeback after a five-year retirement, has now podiumed in all four downhill races this season. The win extends her commanding lead in the downhill discipline standings to 340 points, well ahead of Germany’s Emma Aicher (216) and Austria’s Cornelia Hütter (175). This performance also brings her within two victories of matching the all-time World Cup wins record held by Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark (86), trailing only Mikaela Shiffrin’s current total.
The emotional finish saw Vonn, the 2010 Olympic downhill champion from Vancouver, pause to soak in the roaring cheers from the crowd and her support crew. She shared a heartfelt, prolonged embrace with her team, a moment that captured years of perseverance, injury battles, and an unwavering determination to compete at the elite level once more.
“I honestly thought with my start number that I had no chance, because there’s so much snow and there wasn’t really a track at number six,” Vonn said afterward. “I had to risk a lot with my line to really stay in the hunt. I think I executed my plan really well, I brought good intensity to my race.”
This triumph in Zauchensee is a powerful reminder that age and adversity are no match for true greatness in alpine skiing. As Vonn continues her inspiring “final season,” she proves once again that legends don’t simply endure—they keep rising to new heights.
The women’s speed events in Zauchensee continue on Sunday with the super-G, where Vonn will aim to further strengthen her Olympic credentials.
