Lindsey Vonn Matches All-Time Wins Record

Skier records 62nd World Cup victory
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 18, 2015 4:14 PM CST
Updated Jan 18, 2015 4:48 PM CST
Lindsey Vonn Matches All-Time Wins Record
Lindsey Vonn takes a jump on her way to win an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015.   (Alessandro Trovati)

Lindsey Vonn never thought she would make it this far. Perhaps that's why, after matching the World Cup's all-time record for wins today, she rated it "right below" her Olympic gold medal on her lengthy list of career achievements. "It's hard to really compare the two," Vonn says. "It's one race over the span of my career. (Olympic gold) means a lot to me because it was a childhood dream. I never thought that I would make it this far as far as World Cup wins. This is kind of uncharted territory for me." Vonn skied through thick fog and soft snow to win a demanding downhill and tie Annemarie Moser-Proell's 35-year-old record of 62 World Cup victories, capping a comeback from two knee surgeries that kept her out of last year's Sochi Olympics.

"Lindsey made history today," says Patrick Riml, an Austrian who is the US Alpine director and who has worked with Vonn since she was a junior racer. "She's the greatest skier in the world and she will be for a long time." Vonn was on track to smash the record two years ago before she crashed at the world championships and tore up her right knee, requiring serious surgery. She attempted to return for Sochi but re-injured her knee two months before the games and had to have surgery again. "The last two years have been pretty tough and a lot of people counted me out and thought I would never reach this record," Vonn says. "A lot of people thought that I would never win again. I never stopped believing in myself and I think I proved everyone wrong." (More skiing stories.)

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