Lindsey Vonn proved all critics wrong and caused a historic bang at the start of the Olympic winter. At the opening downhill run in St. Moritz on Friday, the 41-year-old raced ahead of her competition with a big lead.
At the start of the speed season, Vonn won with an incredible lead of almost one second over second-placed Magdalena Egger from Austria (+0.98). Her compatriot Mirjam Pucher came in third (+1.16 seconds). Emma Aicher narrowly missed the podium in fifth place. Kira Weidle-Winkelmann also impressed with eighth place (+1.58s).
Vonn shocks the competition
Until Vonn’s sensational ride, the competition was very close, with only half a second separating the first seven drivers. But then Vonn came along with start number 16 and drove into a new dimension. Fans, drivers and sports show expert Felix Neureuther were stunned when they looked at the scoreboard. “Lindsey Vonn, you are a goddess!”Neureuther celebrated the ski queen.
Strong German duo
In the shadow of the brilliant performance, Emma Aicher and Kira Weidle-Winkelmann also presented themselves in excellent early form. With a careful drive and a great lower section, Weidle-Winkelmann had started with start number four. “I’m 90 percent satisfied, I lost brutally in the middle section. But I feel comfortable on the downhill skis”said Weidle-Winkelmann about her trip to the sports show microphone. Around 20 minutes later she was replaced at the top by Emma Aicher.
Formula 1 start: from 0 to 100 km/h in five seconds
The course in St. Moritz was in excellent condition, but had a few pitfalls. The athletes had to work their way through countless bumps and hard curves, and most of the downhill slopes were visible very late. And the start was already tough: from 0 to 100 km/h it only took a good five seconds.
“Terrible” Gisin crash overshadows training
In contrast to training the day before, the visibility on Friday was much clearer. On Thursday, several athletes complained about the foggy conditions. Top Swiss rider Michelle Gisin was badly hit when she crashed into a safety fence and was operated on on Thursday. In addition to a back and hand injury, the diagnosis for the knee injury is still pending. “She overlooked this little bump in the road (…). Terrible fall”said Sportschau winter sports expert Felix Neureuther.