Lindsey Vonn takes third in France for third downhill podium of season

Lindsey Vonn landed on her third podium in four races in the World Cup season, finishing third in the downhill on Saturday at Val D'Isere, France.

The 41-year-old, who has come out of retirement to compete in one final season and one more Winter Olympics, finished 0.35 seconds behind Cornelia Huetter of Austria.

Her third-place finish came a week after she won the downhill event at St. Moritz, Switzerland. It was her first World Cup win in almost eight years, and she became the oldest skier in Alpine history to win a Cup event.

Despite qualifying for the podium, Vonn said she could have improved on her Saturday performance.

"I wish I could have been a little bit better today," she told reporters after the race. "I thought I executed the middle section, where I didn't ski well in training, but on the bottom, I made a big mistake, and I lost a lot of time, so I was mad at myself for that."

Vonn's teammate, defending downhill world champion Breezy Johnson placed seventh (0.61 seconds back).

Alpine competition at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics begins Feb. 7.

"I'm just gonna keep trying to improve," Vonn said. "I have 49 more days until the Olympics start, so I know I'll be ready for that."

She currently is No. 1 on the World Cup circuit in the downhill and seventh overall in the women's Alpine standings. Fellow American Mikaela Shiffrin is No. 1 in the slalom and first overall.

Vonn earned one gold (downhill) and one bronze (Super-G) at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and a bronze medal in the downhill at the 2018 PyeongChang Games.

--Field Level Media