Lindsey Vonn won her 36th downhill World Cup race on Saturday. She now shares the record for total wins in the discipline with renowned Austrian skier Annemarie Moser-Proell.
Moser-Proell sat in the audience and was among the first to congratulate Vonn. Moser-Proeli has held the record since 1980. Vonn also broke Moser-Proell's previously held record of overall victories in Italy last year.
"She is so kind," Vonn told the CBC, "I am so glad she's here today as she couldn't be in Cortina last year. It means a lot to me. She is a true legend of our sport." Vonn now holds 72 World Cup wins across each Alpine discipline.
Vonn clocked in at a combined time of 2:11:17, one full second ahead of Canadian Larisa Yurkiw.
Austrian Cornelia Huetter finished 1.66 behind Vonn in third. The current overall leader, Lara Gut, did not finish her opening run and scored no points. Gut still leads Vonn by 58 points.
Vonn continues to lead in the downhill discipline, with a total of 300 points. She is tailed by Huetter, who has 250, and Fabienne Suter, of Switzerland, who has 200.
Saturday's race was the first Vonn had entered in the new year after taking a break last week to spend time with friends and family.
"I am very happy. So far I like the new year," said Vonn, according to the AP.
The race was historic for other reasons as well. It marked the first women's downhill in 14 years to include two runs to form a combined time, a standard for slalom, grande slalom, and super g. Due to the length and duress the downhill requires, the event is normally decided in one race. Poor snow conditions though, forced organizers to lower the start, making it shorter than the usual 3 kilometers to 1,875 meters, according to Newser.com.
