GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany — Lindsey Vonn is feeling very much at home in this southern German resort, on and off the hill.
Vonn, the overall World Cup leader, won a downhill on a demanding course by a big margin Saturday, becoming the first woman to win multiple downhills on the Kandahar course. She also won a downhill four years ago. And she has three super-G wins and one slalom victory in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
The Vail resident keeps breaking her own records with every victory. Vonn raised her World Cup record to 38 downhill wins, the most by a woman in a specific discipline.
“Every win is more special than the last one. Every day is a new chance to break a record,” Vonn said.
On a sunny day but with most of the Kandahar course in shade, Vonn made no obvious mistakes and finished 1.51 seconds ahead of Fabienne Suter of Switzerland. Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany, winner of two consecutive giant slalom races coming into Saturday’s event, finished third, 1.57 seconds behind Vonn.
With her 76th World Cup win, Vonn closed the gap on the all-time record of 86 victories held by Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden. Vonn has won five of six downhill races this season and six of the last seven going back to last season. With 57 down- hill podium finishes, she is behind only Austria’s Renate Goetschl (59).
“You can never be unsatisfied with a 1½-second lead,” Vonn said, beaming. “It was a great day. I am pretty psyched.”
With her fifth downhill victory, Vonn equaled her record from the 2011-12 season. She now has nine wins overall this season.
“Everything is coming together well and I have a lot of confidence,” Vonn said.
“It feels like home here,” she said, speaking in fluent German to reporters after the race.
