Painful shin injury or no, Lindsey Vonn showed again on Wednesday (Feb. 17) that she's the best female speed skier in the world today.
Vonn, the United States skier who has 31 career World Cup alpine skiing victories to her credit, laid down a breathtaking run on what she called a "gritty" and challenging Franz's downhill course above Whistler Creekside, pushing teammate Julia Mancuso out of the gold-medal position to capture the gold medal in the Olympic women's downhill.
After she finished her run in one minute, 44.19, 56 hundredths of a second ahead of Mancuso, Vonn fell to the ground in exhaustion, then quickly stood up, let out a scream and thrust her fist into the air in jubilation.
"It's just great to be sitting 1-2 with Julia," she said afterward, Mancuso won the silver medal and Elisabeth Georgl of Austria captured the bronze medal. to a U.S. team official.
Whistlerite Britt Janyk, making her Olympic ski racing debut on her home hill, had a solid run and placed sixth with a time of 1:46.21.
When Janyk stepped into the starting gate under bluebird skies, a roar went up from the crowd far below.
At that moment, she said, "I was standing in the starting gate thinking, 'Wow, this is incredible. This is my hill, my hometown, the crowd is here for me.' I really tried to take that feeling with me down the course."
Janyk, the sixth skier out of the starting gate, was four-tenths of a second in the lead after the first interval, 39 hundredths of a second ahead after the second. But she lost time in the middle of the course and fell 56 hundredths behind Georgl, the early leader, at the third interval.
Janyk said she would have love to have delivered a medal-winning performance for the home fans, but added that she has no regrets.
"I'm happy with the way I raced. I can probably go back and pick it apart and maybe go faster, but I'm happy with my run."
Vonn, who suffered the shin contusion during a training run in Austria about two weeks ago, said the bumpiness of the course on Wednesday made the run especially challenging for her.
"It was probably the bumpiest course I've skied and that's not good when you have a shin injury," said Vonn, who became the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in alpine skiing.
"Coming over that last jump I was really feeling it."
Since the injury, Vonn has expressed doubts about whether she would be able to ski at all during the Games. She said she was thankful to her trainers for helping her rehabilitate to the point where she could race.
Vonn's husband Thomas said his spouse, who had a disappointing 2006 Games in Torino, Italy, "Everything she's done since Torino, she's done for this day. Her whole focus has been on this.
Said Lindsey Vonn, "It's been a tough couple of weeks since my injury, going through all the therapy and having your dreams crushed.
"But the pressure's off now. I've got a gold medal and I can now just get back to skiing."
Sweden's Anja Paerson, the 21st skier out of the start gate and the lone returning Olympic medalist in the race, appeared ready to grab a spot on the podium before losing control coming over the final pitch and crashed into a gate in a horrific crash in front of the crowd. She walked out of the finish area with assistance.
Emily Brydon of Fernie, who came into the race ranked fifth in the World Cup downhill standings, tops among the Canadians, finished 16th in 1:47.88.
"I didn't feel like I was on the front of my skis today," Brydon said. "I was on the back of my skis. I just got knocked around by all the bumps and that's not how you win. I just kept fighting but it wasn't (to be)."
Canadian Shona Rubens finished 21st, while teammate Georgia Simmerling didn't make it to the start gate.
