Lindsey Vonn placed sixth in her first World Cup downhill in six years and her second World Cup race overall since unretiring this season at age 40.
Vonn, the 2010 Olympic downhill gold medalist, finished 58 hundredths of a second behind Italian Federica Brignone.
Brignone, 34, broke Vonn’s record as the oldest woman to win a World Cup downhill.
Brignone prevailed by seven hundredths of a second over Swiss Malorie Blanc (from bib 46 in her second career World Cup race). Next came Czech Ester Ledecka (18 hundredths behind), Italian Laura Pirovano (43 hundredths) and Austrian Stephanie Venier (51 hundredths).
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When Vonn skied into fifth place, she raised her arms and shook them repeatedly in exuberance. Blanc later bumped her down one spot.
Vonn improved on her 14th-place finish from her first World Cup race back on Dec. 21 (a super-G). She is the oldest woman on record to finish in the top 30 of a World Cup.
Similar to that Dec. 21 race, Vonn had a disadvantageous, late start number of 32 on Saturday. Typically, courses deteriorate after that many skiers. Vonn must accumulate strong finishes to move up in the start order in her comeback.
She races again Sunday in a super-G in St. Anton at 5:15 a.m. ET, live on Peacock.
Vonn has said a goal is to make a fifth Olympics at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games. Cortina hosts a World Cup downhill and super-G next weekend.
Vonn has the most World Cup wins at Cortina of any Alpine skier — 12.
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Brignone, 34, earned her first World Cup downhill win after 29 previous victories among super-G, giant slalom and the combined.
Vonn has a record 43 World Cup downhill victories, the last in March 2018 at age 33. Until Saturday, she was the only woman 33 or older to win a World Cup downhill.
Brignone rebroke her own record as the oldest woman to win an Alpine World Cup race in any discipline. Twenty of her 30 titles have come since she turned 29.
Brignone is also the oldest woman to win an Olympic medal in the combined (bronze, 2022) and the GS (silver, 2022) and the oldest female world champion in any individual Alpine event (combined, 2023).
Of her age records, Brignone said, “I’m hoping you can say it again, one more time, maybe in another discipline.”
Brignone’s last downhill win at any level was at the 2010 Italian Junior Championships, according to her International Ski and Snowboard Federation profile.
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