Lindsey Vonn skis to World Cup super-G second-place finish in Tarvisio

Lindsey Vonn capped off the World Cup speed weekend in Tarvisio, Italy with a runner-up finish in the super-G on Sunday morning.

Emma Aicher of Germany took the win in a time of 1 minute 14.04 seconds, 0.27 seconds ahead of Vonn and almost a full second clear of third-place finisher Ester Ledecka.

“While I was skiing, I was kind of in the flow, so I didn’t really think,” Aicher told FIS media after claiming her second victory of the year and fourth of her career. “Then I saw the time, and I thought it was a good result.”

Vonn claimed a victory in the super-G the last time the World Cup was held in Tarvisio on March 6, 2011, edging out teammate Julia Mancuso by 0.23 seconds. Aicher told FIS she wouldn’t mind coming back again after the circuit’s 15-year hiatus.

“It’s a nice slope,” the 22-year-old said. “It’s not that hard, but I think it’s pretty hard to be fast.”

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Neither Vonn nor Aicher were particularly quick at the top of the Di Prampero course, but Vonn held a tenth of a second advantage on the German after the first split. Unlike her third-place downhill finish on Saturday, Vonn didn’t hit top speed for the day, but remained in the green light through the next two sectors. The former Vail resident also posted the third-best final interval. However, Aicher’s last split was the best, and the 0.32 seconds she gained on Vonn there ended up being the difference.

“From top to bottom, I think I had a pretty good run,” Aicher stated.

“I was a disappointed in the way I skied the bottom,” Vonn said. “We had a course report and the coaches told me to do this line and I don’t think it was the fastest, but in general I’m happy with my skiing.”

Ledecka made headlines in 2018 when she won Olympic gold medals in both the super-G and snowboard parallel giant slalom. She won the parallel giant slalom and claimed a silver medal in the parallel slalom at the world championships last March in Engadin. The 30-year-old has never won an Alpine crystal globe, but came close in 2020 and 2022 when she finished second and third, respectively, in the downhill standings. Sunday was her first podium of the season and 12th of her career. She said in a mixed zone interview that her focus wasn’t on time or speed at all.

“I was just happy about having fun on my skis,” Ledecka commented. “That is the main point of today.”

The Czech athlete planned to swap out her skis for a snowboard shortly after the podium ceremony.

“The plan is to go to Simonhohe, which is on Friday,” Ledecka continued, referring to the FIS World Cup parallel giant slalom race in Austria on Jan. 23. “So, I’m switching to snowboard tomorrow. I actually would like to go do some runs today to have an extra day, but I don’t think I will have a chance.”

Keely Cashman was the second American finisher on the day. The 26-year-old finished fifth — her first career top-5 result on the World Cup — one spot in front of Olympic champion Sofia Goggia and only 0.16 seconds off the podium.

“I feel like I’ve been building a lot this year and skiing well in super-G which has given me the confidence,” Cashman said after her first-career top-5 finish. “Lindsey gave me a great report and my coaches and I had a really good plan so I did my best to execute the plan the best I could.” Cashman said having her dad travel with her this season has been “a game-changer mentally on race day.”

“I’m super happy with this result building into the Olympics,” she said.

Teammates Jacqueline Wiles (19th), Allison Mollin (20th) and Breezy Johnson (25th) also scored World Cup points as Mary Bocock (33rd), Tricia Mangan (37th) and Isabella Wright (45th) rounded out the American squad.

Vonn currently sits atop the downhill crystal globe standings and is second in the super-G, just 10 points behind Goggia. The 41-year-old is also one super-G podium away from becoming the first skier, male or female, to reach 50 in more than one discipline. Vonn said her super-G was better over the summer.

“So I was hoping super-G would have been better from the start,” she said. “But I was a little bit inconsistent and a little bit conservative in my skiing. If I can fight for the globe in super-G as well, that would be amazing. I feel really confident in downhill, but super-G could be a little better, so today was a good step in the right direction.”

The World Cup heads to Crans Montana for a super-G and downhill on Jan. 30-31 before the Olympics begin in Milano Cortina next month. After the Games, there is a downhill and two super-Gs in Soldeu, Andorra on Feb. 27, 28 and March 1, respectively, and a super-G and downhill the following weekend in Val di Fassa, Italy. The season concludes with a full slate of races at the World Cup Finals in Lillehammer at the end of March.

This story will be updated throughout the day.