ST. ANTON, Austria — Alpine ski great United States Lindsey Vonn was 10th fastest in a training run for her first World Cup downhill in six years.
Three weeks after her World Cup comeback with a titanium knee at age 40 in a super-G, Vonn completed the two-kilometer Karl Schranz course 2.55 seconds behind Federica Brignone of Italy.
The United States star was clocked at close to 109 kph (68 mph) at a fast section of the hill where she won a downhill in December 2007, AP reported.
A super-G at St. Anton is scheduled for Sunday.
Vonn has won 43 World Cup downhills – a record for men and women – among her 82 career wins that is third on the all-time list.
Mikaela Shiffrin, who is recovering after a crash in giant slalom last month, has 99 and Ingemar Stenmark won 86 in the 1970s and ´80s.
Vonn retired in February 2019 after the world championships in Sweden. Her surprise comeback is building back to a return in her favored downhill event.
She placed 14th with a cautious run in the super-G on Dec. 21 at St. Moritz, Switzerland, and a scheduled second race was canceled by poor weather.
Vonn also should compete next week at Cortina d´Ampezzo, Italy, – the women’s course for the 2026 Olympics, where she won six downhills and six super-Gs – and aims to qualify for the world championships next month in Saalbach, Austria.
Elsewhere, French Alpine skier Cyprien Sarrazin is expected to need several months to recover after sustaining a subdural hematoma — a collection of blood between the skull and the brain — in a Dec. 27 downhill training crash.
Sarrazin “will begin a lengthy rehabilitation process” and miss the rest of this season, according to the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.
Sarrazin, 30, underwent surgery later on the day of the World Cup training run crash in Bormio, Italy.
Then the French ski federation announced Thursday that he was released from an intensive care unit and was to be moved to a neurosurgery department in a French hospital.
Last season, Sarrazin ranked second on the World Cup in the downhill and won four individual races, the first in Bormio, one year after his World Cup downhill debut.
Bormio will host men’s ski races at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.
Bulgaria’s Albert Popov waited nervously through the final seven racers before erupting in ecstasy as he claimed his first and his nation’s second-ever FIS World Cup win in the slalom at Madonna di Campiglio, Italy.
The jubilant skier, already celebrating when it became guaranteed he had landed on his second-ever World Cup podium, came from an eighth-place finish in the day’s opening run for the victory.
His combined time was 1:45.22, powered by the best second run time, a 52.18.
“It’s a dream come true, and it’s a long time coming. I’ve been waiting a lot,” Popov said afterward.
“I’m happy that it’s at Madonna di Campiglio. I love the race, I love the slope, I love the people.”
Previously, Popov’s lone podium finish came in Palisades Tahoe in 2023, where he finished third in the Slalom.
Forty-five years ago to the day, compatriot Petar Popangelov claimed Bulgaria’s only other World Cup victory.
Switzerland’s Loic Meillard, 1:45.66, and Croatia’s Samuel Kolega, 1:45.68, rounded out the podium in second and third place, respectively.
Federica Brignone scored her second giant slalom win of the 2024/25 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup season at Austria.
The Italian veteran extended her own record as the oldest women’s World Cup race winner, which she set in the season-opener at Sölden, with a superb display.
The 34-year-old was quickest on the first run and second fastest on a second descent despite one significant error at the start of the bottom section.
Sweden’s reigning Olympic champion Sara Hector was 0.54 behind in second with Alice Robinson of New Zealand in third place.
Brignone’s 29th World Cup win saw her overhaul Camille Rast at the top of the overall standings with the Swiss finishing down in 17th.
Brignone, who failed to finish the last giant slalom in Killington, told FIS, “It was not easy, the second run, but the slope was amazing. Actually it’s my first podium here in Semmering. I really wanted it and I’m so happy. I felt really good, I wanted to fight and I was not too stressed, so I’m happy.”
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