STARTHOUSE
Congratulations, Lindsey! Fifty World Cup wins!
We knew you were good but we never thought
you’d get to the 50 mark so early in your career.
Annemarie Moser-Proell was a year older when she
reached her 50th win at 28. Lindsey Vonn is 27 and
has a chance to add a number of other wins to her
already immensely successful season. Annemarie
best look over her shoulder.
Lindsey is not the only story, however. Big-event-
success skier Julia Mancuso won her first race of
the season. U.S. women lead the Nations Cup in
downhill. The last overall American Nations Cup
came from the legendary 1982 women’s team.
As good as its results are, the U.S. alpine team is
being matched for podium count by athletes from
virtually all disciplines. Take Hannah Kearney. She
is making a shambles of the freestyle moguls com-
petition with 14 straight World Cup wins. How’s that
for a string of victories? Sarah Hendrickson is lead-
ing the inaugural women’s World Cup jumping cir-
cuit. Nordic team rookie Jessie Diggins, 21, a Min-
nesotan who says she seems to excel in extreme
cold, is already scoring World Cup points, joining
with three-time World Cup victor Kikkan Randall to
lead the women’s nordic team sprint category. In
nordic combined, Bill Demong grabbed his first po-
dium in two years with a sensational ski leg in Val
di Femme.
Dare we say, “Best in the World?” Absolutely, when
one can have a legitimate discussion as to wheth-
er Vonn or Kearney is really the best U.S. winter
athlete. Fourteen consecutive World Cup wins is
a record almost unmatched in any discipline. But
then again, so is 50 World Cup wins. There is not
another winter sports federation that can have that
discussion today.
GEPA
