VAL D'ISERE, France -- Lindsey Vonn added to her strong start in the Milan-Cortina Olympics season with third place Saturday in a World Cup downhill won by Cornelia Huetter.
Vonn has a hat trick of podium finishes -- a win, runner-up, now third -- in the first three World Cup downhills across nine days of racing in Switzerland and France.
Racing immediately after Vonn, Huetter was consistently a little faster after the first time split and touched 126 kph (78 mph). She finished 0.26 seconds ahead of Kira Weidle-Winkelmann and 0.35 clear of the 41-year-old United States star.
Vonn extended her points lead in the season-long World Cup downhill standings.
A big threat to Huetter on an overcast day with tricky visibility on the 2.8-kilometer (1¾-mile) O.K. course was 2018 Olympic champion Sofia Goggia.
Goggia, wearing the No. 14 start bib, was fastest through halfway then had to stand almost straight up to correct her balance coming out of a turn. She was pushed wide into rougher snow to make the next gate.
Goggia finished 0.62 behind Huetter and shook her head in the finish area. She was in eighth place.
Vonn also looked a little anguished on seeing she was behind early leader Weidle-Winkelmann's time and threw her arms out wide. She later congratulated Huetter with smiles and a hug when the 33-year-old Austrian was in the course-side leader's box.
Huetter now has five downhill wins in her 10 career World Cup victories and won the season-long title in 2024. She should be a medal contender in the Olympic downhill scheduled Feb. 8 at storied Cortina d'Ampezzo.
She placed fourth in downhill at each of the two world championships held since the 2022 Beijing Olympics where she placed seventh.
Vonn's comeback last year after nearly six seasons of retirement was to target the Milan Cortina Winter Games that will be her fifth Olympics. She took gold in 2010 at Vancouver and bronze behind Goggia at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea.
Val d'Isere stages a super-G on Sunday, one week after Vonn was fourth in the discipline at St. Moritz won by Alice Robinson of New Zealand.