ST MORITZ, Switzerland, Dec 12 (Reuters) - American great Lindsey Vonn won the opening women's World Cup downhill of the season on Friday to make Alpine ski history at 41 in a sensational boost for her 2026 Olympic comeback hopes.
The 2010 Olympic downhill champion took the 83rd World Cup win of her career - and first since a downhill in Are, Sweden, in March 2018 - by 0.98 of a second in the Swiss resort of St Moritz.
The previous oldest World Cup race winner was Switzerland's Didier Cuche at 37 in a men's
Super-G in 2012. Italy's Federica Brignone was the oldest previous female winner at 34 last season.
Starting 16th on the Corviglia piste, Vonn was behind after the first two time checks but then powered ahead to cross the line in a time of one minute 29.63 seconds .
Collapsing in the snow at the finish area's safety barrier, the four-times overall World Cup champion got back up and whooped in delight as she thrust her ski poles in the air.
Austrians Magdalena Egger, from 27th on the start list, and Mirjam Puchner finished second and third in Friday's race.
FIRST SUCCESS WAS IN 2004
Vonn started her comeback last season, a return met with incredulity by some other skiers who questioned her sanity in returning to competitive downhill skiing -- the fastest and most dangerous of disciplines -- after knee surgery.
She ended last season with a first podium in seven years when she finished second in the Super-G at the World Cup finals in Sun Valley, Idaho. Friday was her 44th win in downhill and came 21 years after her first success in 2004.
The American was fastest in training in St Moritz on Wednesday, when she told reporters that she felt physically in possibly the best shape she had ever been and had gained muscle and strength.
"I knew I was skiing fast but you never know until the first race," she said after a tearful telephone call with her father. "I think I was a little faster than I expected. I think I had a great run but I also made some mistakes so I'm excited for tomorrow."
Vonn has another downhill on Saturday followed by a Super-G on Sunday.
"I still didn't ski the best I could have on the compression on the bottom but I just tried to be dynamic, tried to be clean, the way I've been skiing in training and it was pretty solid," she said.
"It's a long weekend with three races. Yesterday was quite hard, I think I lost a lot of energy just hanging out for 30 minutes," she said of a training interrupted by a heavy crash for Switzerland's Olympic combined champion Michelle Gisin.
"I'm just going to try and get some sleep tonight, hopefully be ready for tomorrow.
"I'm actually really excited for Super-G because I'm skiing better in Super-G than I am in downhill."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, Editing by Alison Williams and Toby Davis)
