Lindsey Vonn posts DNF in FIS world championship super-G as 22-year-old U.S. teammate snags bronze
Giovanni Auletta/AP photo
Lindsey Vonn came into Thursday’s super-G hoping to make history by becoming the oldest Alpine world championship medalist. History was indeed made in Saalbach, Austria — but it wasn’t by Vonn.
Austrian Stephanie Venier became the oldest women’s super-G winner in world championship history, coming from bib 7 to beat previous leader Federica Brignone by a tenth of a second. The 31-year-old scorched the Ulli Maier course in 1 minute, 20.47 seconds, adding a gold to the downhill silver she won in 2017.
“I don’t know what to say, I’m just speechless,” Venier told FIS. “It was an amazing run, and in front of the home crowd it’s even more special. It’s just a dream. It’s just amazing.”
Vonn was the 16th-fastest at the first checkpoint but didn’t make it to the end of the second sector. The 40-year-old crashed into a control gate and posted a DNF.
“I’m OK. I just hit my nerve somehow when I hit the gate and I lost feeling in my arm but it’s coming back slowly,” she told FIS. “I’m sick, I’m a little banged up, but I don’t know, I skied the top well, I thought. I was just a little too aggressive to the gate and it happened. But I’m really happy for Lauren, she skied amazing and I’m really proud of her.”
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Vonn’s U.S. teammate, Lauren Macuga, continued her breakout season, tying Norwegian Kajsa Vickhoff Lie for bronze.
“It won’t settle in for a while but I keep looking back up at that screen and I’m like wow, my name is there. It’s crazy,” the 22-year-old Park City native said. Macuga was fourth in the Birds of Prey downhill and captured her first World Cup win in the St. Anton super-G on Jan. 12. She took confidence into the off-season after snagging a pair of top-10 finishes in Kvitfjell last spring.
“After last year I knew I could do it if I just put in some hard work,” she said. “I’m figuring out how to be a better athlete, learning from Lindsey Vonn, learning those tips and tricks. It’s not just about the skiing and the working out. There’s other things you have to do and it’s making the difference.”
The other American starters, Breezy Johnson and Keely Cashman, finished 19th and 24th, respectively.
Similar to Macuga, Vonn was also 22 when she won her first world championship medals — silvers in the speed events in Åre, Sweden in 2007. Macuga came into these championships ranked fifth and sixth in the super-G and downhill season standings, respectively. Lara Gut-Behrami, winner of the overall, GS and super-G globes in 2024, finished in eighth. Brignone — who came in as the overall crystal globe leader — earned her first world championship medal in the super-G on Thursday. The Italian was the third-fastest skier in the penultimate sector and the second-best over the final section.
“I knew that if I wanted to go fast I had to arrive on the jumps fearless, knowing that if you want to keep the speed you had to jump really far. I’ve been training for that a lot,” the 34-year-old told FIS. “Actually after the Panorama jump I wanted to push, and I said ‘No, no, no, don’t push, just go!'”
The world championship schedule continues with the men’s super-G final on Friday at 3:30 a.m. MST. The women’s third downhill training day is also on Friday. Vonn said she plans to assess her shoulder before deciding whether or not she will ski.
“I have to test some more material so I’ll probably start tomorrow,” she said.
