Lindsey Vonn wins women's World Cup downhill in France

American skier Lindsey Vonn won a World Cup downhill race Saturday in Val D'isere, France on the same course where she re-injured her troublesome right knee one year ago, clinching a 61st career victory to continue her strong comeback following two operations.

Vonn had a clean run on the Oreiller-Killy course to finish 0.19 seconds ahead of early pace-setter Elisabeth Goergl of Austria and Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany, who tied for second.

Larisa Yurkiw, of Owen Sound, Ont., finished 13 with a time of 1:45.46.

"I'm very happy to say the least. It's a celebration for myself and for the team around me," Vonn said. "I've waited a long time for this."

Swiss skier Lara Gut placed 0.39 seconds behind in fourth place, while overall leader Tina Maze of Slovenia finished half a second adrift in seventh.

After nearly two years without a victory, the 30-year-old Vonn won a downhill at Lake Louise, Canada, two weeks ago and finished second in super-G the next day.

"It feels amazing. I was a bit nervous today as I made some mistakes in training. It's tough when you only have one training run," Vonn said. "I skied aggressively today. It was definitely tough as we had a lot more speed. I [held] on and kept fighting and it paid off."

She goes for a fourth straight podium in Sunday's super-G, where a victory will move her level all-time with Austrian great Annemarie Moser-Proll on 62.

"I'm very happy and lucky to have 61 wins already, but for me the important thing is to focus on the skiing," Vonn said. "If I ski aggressively and with confidence like I did today, then the numbers will come."

Making up time

Vonn was 0.11 seconds ahead of Goergl on the first time split, increasing her advantage to 0.36 on the second. She then lost a bit of time before making it up again near the bottom.

As she crossed the line, Vonn leaned her head back, swung her right pole up in the air and then shook her head in relief, as if scarcely believing she'd won for the second time in just four races since getting back to racing. She then blew a kiss to the camera.

"In Lake Louise, I won so many times that some people automatically assume that I should win there. But it's never easy to win in any World Cup race," Vonn said. "I already knew I could win here today. It was for other people to understand that I'm back to where I used to be."

Prior to her success at Lake Louise, Vonn's previous World Cup win was a giant slalom in January 2013 in Maribor, Slovenia, — and this was only her eighth race since then.

Soon after winning in Maribor, her career was threatened by a serious knee injury after a spectacular fall at the 2013 world championships.

Trying to get back in time for the Sochi Olympics, she partially tore one of the reconstructed ligaments in a training crash.

After spraining her MCL in Val d'Isere four days before Christmas she required more surgery in the new year.

It was the first podium of the season for both Goergl and Rebensburg — who also secured her first career podium in downhill.

"I think I'm going to keep smiling until I go to bed," Rebensburg said.

The 33-year-old Goergl had not been on the podium since finishing second in downhill at Lenzerheide, Switzerland, in March.

American Laurenne Ross emerged unscathed from a heavy fall which saw her spin around, land on her backside, bump back up onto her feet, and try to regain balance with one ski raised in the air, before sliding into the safety netting.