Austrian skier Stephanie Venier wins women's super-G world title
Cassidy Gray top Canadian finisher in 20th place
Stephanie Venier gave host nation Austria its first gold medal of the alpine skiing world championships by beating the pre-race favourites in the women's super-G on Thursday in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria.
Federica Brignone of Italy was 0.10 seconds behind to take the silver medal, and Lauren Macuga of the United States and Kajsa Vickhoff Lie of Norway shared bronzes, 0.24 off the lead.
"It's just a dream, and it's just amazing in front of the home crowd. Nothing can beat this," Venier said.
"It was just a good run, I think my best ever. I am a world champ, it's so unreal. Crazy, crazy."
WATCH | Venier captures world championship gold on home mountain:
Canada's Cassidy Grey finished 20th after she was forced to do a re-run.
WATCH | Canadian Gray finishes 20th in world championship super-G:
The Invermere, B.C., skier's first run was halted because organizers needed to fix the course following a crash.
WATCH | Gray describes her wild day at worlds:
On a course set by U.S. ski team coach Alex Hoedlmoser, Lindsey Vonn posted the 16th fastest time at the first split when she hooked a gate with her right arm. She avoided falling and was able to stop but then grasped her arm in apparent pain.
The gate pressed on her forearm, locked her elbow by her side and pushed the whole arm back with pressure on her shoulder.
"I am OK, I hit my nerve somehow and I hit the gate and lost feeling in my arm but it's coming back slowly," Vonn said after her first appearance at the worlds in six years.
Live streaming coverage through the 13-day world alpine ski championship will be available on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.
The American said a day before the race she was feeling sick with a cold or the flu.
"I'm sick, I'm a little banged up. I know I skied the top well, I thought. Been playing with my material, my boots ... just I was a little too aggressive to the gate and then it happened."
WATCH | American Vonn crashes into a gate:
Spectators in the area let out a collective gasp of astonishment and grew silent with concern. Vonn skied down to the finish and waved to the crowd.
She stayed out to join American teammate Macuga in the medal celebrations.
"I am really excited for Lauren, she skied amazing, I'm really proud of her," Vonn said.
Vonn retired in 2019 after winning bronze in downhill in Are, Sweden, following several injuries, but returned to the circuit this season with a new titanium right knee.
WATCH | Vonn tells CBC Sports what it means to inspire the next generation of skiers:
Macuga won her first career World Cup last month in a super-G at another Austrian ski resort, St. Anton.
Mikaela Shiffrin is coming back from abdominal surgery in December and plans to start only the giant slalom and slalom next week.
The super-G started in mostly sunny conditions, but more clouds came in after the first half hour. More parts of the course were in the shadow when Vonn started in 30th position.
Venier was the 2013 junior world champion in super-G but a silver in downhill from the 2017 worlds was her only medal in a senior race before Thursday's triumph.
"It sounds unreal. I slept so bad last night, I was so nervous," Venier said. "I was extremely nervous at the start, I didn't know how to handle, but it was probably a good omen."
Venier has three career World Cup wins, including one in a super-G in Switzerland a year ago.
WATCH | Venier tells CBC Sports about her win in front of a home crowd:
Silver medallist Brignone's teammate and fellow pre-race gold favourite Sofia Goggia lost time on Venier at all splits except at the bottom, where she could make up only a fraction and missed the podium by six-hundredths in fifth.
Lara Gut-Behrami, who leads the World Cup super-G standings this season, was slowed by a similar incident to Vonn's. The Swiss skier hooked a gate with her left arm halfway down her run and finished 0.70 behind in eighth.
Olympic champion Ester Ledecka seemed on medal course for most of her run, but came wide in a few turns near the bottom of the course and finished in seventh position.
Thursday's opening individual race at the worlds took place exactly one year before the 2026 opening ceremony for the Milan-Cortina Olympics.
Italy won Tuesday's parallel team event that opened the worlds.
The next event is the men's super-G on Friday.
WATCH | What Canadians need to know about alpine worlds:
