Lindsey Vonn came out of the 2025/26 alpine skiing start gate in stunning fashion on Friday morning to win the first FIS World Cup downhill race of the season at St. Moritz by a huge 0.98s margin.
Vonn returned from a five-year break last year looking to mix it with the best downhill skiers of this current generation such as Italian Sofia Goggia - who won 2018 gold and 2022 silver medals.
Although her return season went very well, the 41-year-old American has now become the oldest World Cup downhill winner.
As fastest in qualifying, she had to wait for 15 rivals to go down the mountain. Even though she was seventh at the second intermediate check, she moved into first by the third one before picking up speed on the bottom half to ultimately finish ahead of Austrian Magdalena Egger by 0.98s.
It was Vonn's 83rd World Cup win and her first since March 2018. That makes her the oldest alpine skiing World Cup winner on record at 41, surpassing the previous benchmark set by Swiss legend Didier Cuche (Crans-Montana Super-G in 2012 at 37 years and 192 days).
"I knew I was skiing fast, but you never know until the first race. It's a very exciting time. It felt so good. I don't have to drive at the limit, and I'm still fast and driving cleanly."
Vonn will use the bulk of the FIS World Cup downhill season to prepare for another tilt at glory at Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, having previously won one downhill gold, one downhill bronze and one Super-G bronze in her career.