Alpine ski great United States Lindsey Vonn watches the 10km women's mass start race of the Tour de Ski cross country, in Val di Fiemme, Italy, on Jan. 5, 2025.Alessandro Trovati/The Associated Press
Ski great Lindsey Vonn was 10th fastest in a training run on Thursday for her first World Cup downhill in six years.
Three weeks after her World Cup comeback with a titanium knee at the age of 40 in a super-G, Vonn completed the two-kilometre Karl Schranz course 2.55 seconds behind Federica Brignone of Italy.
The United States star was clocked at close to 109 km/h at a fast section of the hill where she won a downhill in December, 2007.
Canadian Valérie Grenier, of St. Isidore, Ont., was 46th in the training run, 7.09 seconds back of Brignone. A second practice is planned on Friday before the race on Saturday.
Vonn has won 43 World Cup downhills – a record for men and women – among her 82 career wins which is third on the all-time list. Mikaela Shiffrin, who is recovering after a crash in giant slalom last month, has 99 and Ingemar Stenmark won 86 in the 1970s and 80s.
Vonn retired in February, 2019, after the world championships in Sweden. Her surprise comeback is building back to a return in her favoured downhill event.
She placed 14th with a cautious run in the super-G on Dec. 21 at St. Moritz, Switzerland, and a scheduled second race was cancelled by poor weather.
A super-G at St. Anton is scheduled for Sunday.
Vonn also should compete next week at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy – the women’s course for the 2026 Olympics, where she won six downhills and six super-Gs – and aims to qualify for the world championships next month in Saalbach, Austria.