Lindsey Vonn returns with 15th-place finish at Cortina downhill

With 82 wins and counting, Lindsey Vonn still looks very much like the most successful women's ski racer in history.

At least she does when she's whizzing down the mountain at speeds in excess of 120 kph.

It's after Vonn steps out of the spotlight, though, and when she peels off her racing suit, that the American reveals the baggage she carries from her long list of crashes and injuries to virtually every part of her body.

For only the second time in her career, Vonn is racing with braces on both knees.

"It's a little weird. Sometimes they click together," Vonn said. "It's definitely not aerodynamic, that's for sure. But it's better than not racing. Do what I got to do.

"There are other racers that have knee braces," Vonn added. "But the double whammy is not ideal."

Having hyperextended her left knee and sprained a ligament while training in November, Vonn marked her return to the World Cup circuit by finishing tied for 15th in a downhill Friday following an uncharacteristic mistake midway through her run.

Vonn, who finished 1.19 seconds behind winner Ramona Siebenhofer, got bounced off her line on the upper portion of the sun-drenched Olympia delle Tofane course.

"It was just good to get one under my belt," Vonn said. "While I expect a lot from myself sometimes I need to be realistic and understand that I haven't skied downhill since November. I can't expect everything all the time and today is just a good place to start and I'll fix things for tomorrow and ski the course the way I know how."

Valerie Grenier of St-Isidore, Ont., was 34th, while Marie-Michele Gagnon of Lac-Etchemin, Que., was 40th.

Vonn needs five more wins to break the all-time record of 86 held by Swedish standout Ingemar Stenmark before she retires after races in Lake Louise, Alberta, in December.

As if the pressure of chasing the record and her physical condition weren't enough to handle, Vonn also had to deal with a fan heckling her immediately after her run.

Among other things, the heckler told Vonn that American teammate Mikaela Shiffrin will break her records — prompting Vonn, who appeared amused more than anything by the incident, to shout something back at the fan.

"It was really weird," Vonn said. "Maybe it was lost in translation but it was right after my run when I'm not exactly excited. It was probably not the best time to chirp me. But it's all right. I got plenty of other fans here."

Siebenhofer claimed her first career victory with a near-perfect run, finishing 0.40 seconds ahead of world champion Ilka Stuhec of Slovenia. Stephanie Venier, the silver medallist at the 2017 worlds and Siebenhofer's roommate on the Austrian team, was third, 0.46 behind.

Vonn's right knee is permanently damaged from previous crashes. The 34-year-old American has also torn ACLs, suffered fractures near her left knee, broken her ankle, sliced her right thumb, had a concussion and more. She's limited now to about three runs per day, and her achy body can't handle the workload of other skiers.

No wonder she wears an air bag safety vest under her suit.

"It's gone off quite a few times when I've crashed," Vonn said. "As much as I can do to protect my body. I wear two knee braces and an air bag and maybe I should just ski in bubble wrap. I've got a mouth guard. I've got a helmet, air bag, back protector, knee braces. I think that's as much as really you can have, besides arm braces at this point."

Even with all that hardware, Vonn still feels pain in her knees when she lands long jumps. So she was pleased when organizers shortened the course because of overnight snowfall and eliminated the opening jump.

So how did the knees feel Friday?

"Actually good. Better than yesterday. Yesterday did not feel good," said Vonn, who took part in only one of the two training sessions Thursday and was seen walking gingerly afterward. "It will be good for me to have a better prep tonight and be a little bit more prepared tomorrow."

Vonn, who has a record 12 wins in Cortina, expects to improve in another downhill scheduled for Saturday, followed by a super-G on Sunday.

"I'm going to change my underwear and change my race suit," Vonn said. "And maybe that will make me a little faster, too."