As with many of the speed races at this year’s world championships, the women’s downhill was run on a shortened course due to Mother Nature whipping up the winds in Are.
The U.S.’ Lindsey Vonn was the sentimental favorite of the day, skiing in the last race of her career.
Vonn did hold the lead early in the event, but Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec was the eventual winner, crossing the finish line .49 hundredths of a second faster than Vonn. For two consecutive world championships, Stuhec has won downhill gold. Her first win was in 2017.
It appeared that Vonn might leave with the silver medal until Switzerland’s Corinne Suter, skiing 19th on the day, fearlessly held her tuck in the fastest sections on course to cross the finish line .26 hundredths of a second faster than Vonn. Vonn’s time stood as the third best on the day. A happy ending for the legendary U.S. skier who only recently decided to call it quits, saying her body simply could not go on.
Stuhec has three World Cup downhill podium finishes this season, but just one of those was for the win.
A trio of Austrians have owned the World Cup downhill this season. Ramona Siebenhofer and Nicole Schmidhofer have two World Cup downhill wins apiece, with Stephanie Venier holding one. All finished off the world championship podium in Are.
The men’s Super combined is next up on the world championship docket tomorrow morning, beginning with the downhill at 5:00 a.m. ET followed by the slalom at 8:30 a.m. Watch the downhill live on TV or streaming on Olympic Channel or with an NBC Sports Gold Snow Pass. The slalom can be seen live on TV and streaming on NBCSN as well as NBC Sports Gold.
The U.S.’ Mikaela Shiffrin is expected to race in Are on Thursday in the giant slalom and again on Saturday in the slalom. Check out the full schedule for the remaining events at the 2019 Alpine World Ski Championships below.
ALPINE SKIING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP -- Are, Sweden
| Day | Time (ET) | Event | TV | Stream |
| Monday | 5:00 a.m. | Men’s Super Combined - Downhill | Olympic Channel | Olympic Channel/NBC Sports Gold |
| 7:30 a.m. | Men’s Super Combined - Downhill* | NBCSN | ||
| 8:30 a.m. | Men’s Super Combined - Slalom | NBCSN | NBCSN/NBC Sports Gold | |
| Tuesday | 9:55 a.m. | Team Event | NBCSN | NBCSN/NBC Sports Gold |
| Thursday | 8:00 a.m. | Women’s Giant Slalom (Run 1) | Olympic Channel | Olympic Channel/NBC Sports Gold |
| 10:30 a.m. | Women’s Giant Slalom (Run 1)* | NBCSN | ||
| 11:30 a.m. | Women’s Giant Slalom (Run 2) | NBCSN | NBCSN/NBC Sports Gold | |
| Friday | 8:00 a.m. | Men’s Giant Slalom (Run 1) | Olympic Channel | Olympic Channel/NBC Sports Gold |
| 11:00 a.m. | Men’s Giant Slalom (Run 2) | NBCSN | NBCSN | |
| 11:30 a.m. | Men’s Giant Slalom (Run 2) | NBC Sports Gold | ||
| Saturday | 5:00 a.m. | Women’s Slalom (Run 1) | Olympic Channel | Olympic Channel/NBC Sports Gold |
| 7:00 a.m. | Women’s Slalom (Run 1)* | NBCSN | ||
| 8:00 a.m. | Women’s Slalom (Run 2) | NBCSN | NBCSN/NBC Sports Gold | |
| 1:00 p.m. | Women’s Slalom* | NBC | ||
| Sunday | 5:00 a.m. | Men’s Slalom (Run 1) | Olympic Channel | Olympic Channel/NBC Sports Gold |
| 7:00 a.m. | Men’s Slalom (Run 1)* | NBCSN | ||
| 8:00 a.m. | Men’s Slalom (Run 2) | NBCSN | NBCSN/NBC Sports Gold |
*Same-day delay