Lindsey Vonn was in tears. It’s easy to see why.
In her second race back after the most painful injury of her career, Vonn notched her 77th career World Cup victory, taking a downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, on Saturday morning.
Vonn screamed repeatedly after crossing the finish line and seeing she was .15 ahead of Swiss Lara Gut. She cried and then waited as skier after skier tried to beat her time. No one did. Full results are here.
Vonn called it the most emotional victory of those 77, according to the Austria Press Agency.
“I feel like, sometimes, I come back so quickly, everyone forgets how much time and energy and blood, sweat and tears it takes to come back without any training and jump in there,” Vonn said, adding to the BBC, “I just put it all on the line. I tried to risk more. I tried to really believe in myself. I did more than I expected.”
This month marked Vonn’s full return from two injuries -- suffering three large fractures in her left knee in a Feb. 27 race crash and breaking her right upper arm in a Nov. 10 training crash. Vonn has said the latter was the most painful injury of her career, causing nerve damage that limited mobility of her right hand.
Vonn’s first race back was last Sunday -- after less than two weeks of ski training -- and she finished 13th in a downhill in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria. Her lack of training showed. A lack of aggressiveness and speed in turns.
“I honestly wasn’t sure after Zauchensee how long it would take me [to win],” she said. “I definitely struggled finding that confidence, but I did it today. I tried to have as much courage as I could and push myself to the limit. I think I still can ski a lot better, but I think this is more in the direction of what I used to do. So I’m getting back.”
Vonn has two primary goals left in her decorated career -- to ski for gold in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic downhill and to break the World Cup wins record of 86 held by Swede Ingemar Stenmark.
Vonn can go for win No. 78 in a super-G in Garmisch on Sunday, streamed on NBCSports.com/live and the NBC Sports app at 6 a.m. ET.
If Vonn stays healthy and continues to win at her normal pace, two big “ifs,” she will break Stenmark’s record next season.
“I still don’t have much training, so, super-G, I really don’t know what to expect,” Vonn said.
MORE: Vonn sets date on proposal to enter men’s race
Words can't describe how happy I am right now!!! Hard work pays off in the end!! I did it!! #LV77
— lindsey vonn (@lindseyvonn) January 21, 2017