Lindsey Vonn wins gold in women’s downhill; Julia Mancuso wins silver

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

It was a great day for the U.S. women in the downhill as Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso won the gold and silver medal, respectively, in the women’s downhill. Vonn is the first U.S. woman to win the downhill since the event began in 1948.

Mancuso set the early pace, skiing down the mountain in a blistering 1:44.75. She held the lead until Vonn, the 16th skier down the hill, put up a time of 1:44.19.

‘I knew what I had to do. I knew what kind of run it was going to take to win,’ Vonn said. ‘There was no option to be nervous. I had to attack. It wasn’t a perfect run by any means but I made it down.’

Elisabeth Goergl of Austria, the fifth skier down the mountain, won the bronze with a time of 1:45.65.

The course proved difficult, with several skiers crashing during their run.

Chris Dufresne will have a full story later today at latimes.com/sports.

-- Houston Mitchell in Vancouver, Canada