Lindsey Vonn already showed during Friday's training that she deserves a better starting number than 32. Then, the American had the tenth best time.
When Vonn threw herself into her first downhill race since taking the World Championship bronze in the discipline in Åre in February 2019, she showed even better form on Saturday.
Vonn crossed the finish line as the fifth best skier – 58 hundredths behind the leading Italian Federica Brignone – and raised her arms to the sky.
The Swiss Malorie Blanc was not even born when Lindsey Vonn made her first World Cup start in her career in 2000, but the 21-year-old sensation made a splash in only her second World Cup competition. From starting number 46, Blanc snatched second place and was only seven hundredths behind winner Brignone.
This means that Vonn was pushed down to a final sixth place in her 120th World Cup downhill. The American has three Olympic Games medals, eight World Championship medals, and 82 World Cup victories on her long list of merits. Of these, 43 wins have come in downhill alone.
Vonn suffered several severe injuries towards the end of her career, but after undergoing an advanced knee operation in April, the 40-year-old announced in November that she is aiming for a comeback in the World Cup after nearly six years of absence.
She cleared that hurdle a few days before Christmas when Vonn finished 14th in the super-G in Swiss St. Moritz.
The World Cup continues in St. Anton on Sunday with super-G.
