84. Lindsey Vonn won the women’s downhill in Zauchensee on Saturday in 1:06.24, 0.37 seconds ahead of Kajsa Vickhoff Lie and 0.48 ahead of Jacqueline Wiles. It was her 84th World Cup win, her second of this comeback, and her fourth podium from four downhills this season. She is 41.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time / Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lindsey VonnUSA | USA | 1:06.24 |
| 2 | Kajsa Vickhoff LieNOR | NOR | +0.37 |
| 3 | Jacqueline WilesUSA | USA | +0.48 |
| 4 | Laura PirovanoITA | ITA | n/a |
| 5 | Janine SchmittSUI | SUI | n/a |
No track, so line choice decided it
Days of heavy snow forced the start down to the lowest possible point; the snow stopped in time to race. That left soft, fresh snow and no established race line. Vonn drew bib 6 from the third reserve start, which made her the first top seed down and meant she was setting the track rather than reading it.
She was level with Lie at halfway and made her time in the bottom section, going straighter than the rest through the Panorama turn. Wiles, third, gave the clearest account of the problem: outside the line it was slow, so you had to nail the line. Vonn’s version was shorter — she thought she had no chance, so she swung really hard.
Schmitt’s fifth place was her first World Cup top-15. Corinne Suter, the Olympic downhill champion, was 22nd in her season debut after leg injuries sustained in a training crash in December.
Where the season stood
- Four downhills raced, four Vonn podiums: wins in St. Moritz and Zauchensee, second in St. Moritz, third in Val d’Isère.
- Five podiums from six speed races, counting the Val d’Isère super-G.
- She led the downhill standings on 400 points when the Olympic break came, with Emma Aicher on 256.
How it ended
Vonn added a third place in the Tarvisio downhill a week later and was second in the Tarvisio super-G. She crashed in the women’s downhill at Crans-Montana on 30 January, hurt her left knee and sat out the super-G. Then she crashed in the Olympic downhill at Milano Cortina on 8 February, shattering her left leg; several operations followed and her season was over. She never lost the downhill lead on the hill — Laura Pirovano took it from her in March with three straight wins while Vonn was in hospital.
Two wins at 41, from six starts in the discipline. The record for the oldest World Cup winner, set in St. Moritz four weeks earlier, now has a second entry.
Sources
- fis-ski.com/alpine-skiing/news/2025-26/i-just-swung-real…
- thestar.com.my/sport/others/2026/01/10/alpine-skiing-vonn-t…
- usskiandsnowboard.org/news/vonn-wows-zauchensee-win-84-wiles-third
- foxsports.com/articles/winter/swiss-skier-blanc-gives-cran…
- thestar.com.my/sport/others/2026/02/27/alpine-skiing-suter-…