Vonn Dominates Lake Louise

LAKE LOUISE, AB (Dec. 2) - Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) left no doubt to her ownership of the Lake Louise downhill. After her six-year downhill win string was snapped a year ago, Vonn came storming back Friday to win by 1.95 seconds over late-starting Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein. Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, CO) was an impressive eighth in her return to action after suffering a broken knee nearly a year ago. It was the largest margin of victory in Vonn's career and moved her to fourth on the women's World Cup all-time list with 43 wins. Vonn has now won nine races in Lake Louise with 16 podiums in only 27 starts at the Canadian resort.  Her victory came hours after Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) captured the Audi Birds of Prey downhill win in Beaver Creek, CO and created the first time two Americans had won downhills on the same day since Dec. 2004 when Miller won in Beaver Creek and Vonn (then Kildow) captured the first win of her career in Lake Louise.

HIGHLIGHTS

• 43rd career World Cup win for Vonn and second of the season after winning the opening giant slalom race in Soelden, Austria
• Vonn now fourth on women's all-time World Cup win list behind Annemarie Moser Proell (62), Vreni Schneider (55) and Renate Goetschl (46)
• Vonn's 9th World Cup win (8 downhill, 1 super G) and 16th podium in 27 starts at Lake Louise
• Vonn moves into second in Audi FIS Alpine World Cup overall eight points behind Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg
• Alice McKennis returned from missing nearly all of last season with a broken knee to finish 8th
• Julia Mancuso was 16th, Stacey Cook 18th and Leanne Smith 29th as five Americans finished in the top 30
• Last time the U.S. Ski Team doubled up with two downhill wins in one day was Dec. 3, 2004 when Bode Miller won on Birds of Prey and then Lindsey Kildow won her first World Cup in Lake Louise

QUOTES
Lindsey Vonn
"I had a good feeling today. It's been amazing to have the support of my teammates, coaches and everyone on the World Cup. My sister came all the way from North Carolina to watch me and it's definitely helping me focus on skiing.

"Everything just came together and I'm hoping to keep it going this weekend. I'm happy to be back racing downhill."

"There was a pretty big head wind coming onto the Fall Away turn, but I knew that Heinz (Hemmerle) my technician had done some magic with my skis to help me on the flats and it all cme together."

"I couldn't believe it. My goal was just to ski aggressively through the wind and tough light conditions. I could feel the wind heavily when I was skiing, so to win by almost two seconds is just amazing."

"Skiing is the best thing for me. When I'm on my skis, on the mountain and going fast I feel really comfortable."

"With Bode winning in Beaver Creek, it was a big day for the U.S. Ski Team and I hope we can continue the trend through the weekend and into next week when the men's and women's teams are together in Beaver Creek."

"I'm so excited to finally be able to race in my hometown. It's going to be awesome. We're only going to have that one inspection for the super G, so I need to be really focused to be ready for the race on Wednesday."

Alice McKennis
"It's been such a long road for me and to be fast in my first race back is just an incredible feeling. I felt so much more comforatble today than I have in any of the training runs."

"I felt like I was skiing well, but I no idea that I'd come down in a decent position. I'm so pumped up for another day of downhill tomorrow."

RESULTS
Official Results
http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/610.html?sector=AL&raceid=66689