Lindsey Vonn wins Austrian World Cup downhill for 2nd victory of Olympic season

Lindsey Vonn showed again Saturday she is the standout downhill racer in this Olympic season.

Vonn won her second World Cup downhill in four races this season, raising expectations in this remarkable comeback racing at age 41 with her right knee rebuilt using titanium implants.

The United States star was 0.37 seconds faster than Kajsa Vickhoff Lie in tricky, overcast conditions in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria. Vonn was jumping up cheering in the leader's box when her teammate Jacqueline Wiles raced into third place, 0.48 back.

On a shortened course that took her fewer than 67 seconds to complete, Vonn still clocked 130 kph for one of the fastest speeds any women racer will hit this season.

"I knew what it was going to take to win today," she said. "It was a sprint and I had to give it everything I had, definitely had to risk a little bit."

Vonn crossed the finish line with a look of determined satisfaction, punching the air with her right fist and nodding with short, sharp movements of her head.

Vonn wins Zauchensee World Cup downhill, 4th podium in 4 starts for the American

With each victory, Vonn extends her record as the oldest race winner in the 60-season history of the World Cup circuit. Her 84th career win on the circuit was her record-extending 45th in downhill.

The United States star later made a family video phone call alongside her coach Aksel Lund Svindal, the men's downhill champion at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics where Vonn took bronze in the women's race.

Vonn was Olympic downhill champion at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and shapes as a strong contender for the next gold medal race scheduled Feb. 8 on the first Sunday at the Milan Cortina Olympics. It is at the storied Cortina d'Ampezzo slope where