Vonn skis through knee pain for another win

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — Lindsey Vonn skied through pain in her left knee to win another super-G race Sunday, claiming her sixth victory of the season by a small margin over German rival Maria Riesch.

It was the second win in three days for Vonn, who also finished first in a super-G Friday on the Olympia delle Tofane course.

Vonn clocked 1 minute, 22.64 seconds on another perfectly clear day in the Dolomites, beating overall World Cup leader Riesch by 0.05 seconds. Swiss teenager Lara Gut finished third, 0.88 back.

Vonn's American teammate Julia Mancuso was fourth, while Swedish standout Anja Paerson placed fifth.

Vonn hurt her knee while pulling off a strenuous recovery during Saturday's downhill, in which she finished third. She skipped the downhill awards ceremony and received therapy throughout Saturday afternoon and evening and took a few painkillers to get through Sunday's race.

"It's really swollen and it's pretty solid pain," Vonn said. "But that's part of the job. It's definitely not the worst injury I've had by a long shot. It's definitely something I can deal with."

At last year's Vancouver Olympics, Vonn shrugged off a severe shin injury to win the downhill and take bronze in the super-G.

"Nothing really tops the shin injury," she said. "I feel like I've dealt with a lot of injuries in the past and this one is pretty mild and definitely skiable."

Vonn didn't think her knee will bother her next weekend in Sestriere, saying she should be fine after three days off.

Vonn's speed coach Chip White set the course and many skiers flew wide over a jump three-quarters of the way down and couldn't make the next gate.

"I actually had no idea he was setting the course, so I had absolutely no say in the course set," Vonn said.

Those who went out included Anna Fenninger, the Austrian who finished third Friday; Olympic super-G champion Andrea Fischbacher; former overall champion Nicole Hosp; Tina Maze of Slovenia; Fabienne Suter of Switzerland; and local favorite Elena Fanchini of Italy.

It was the 39th career win for Vonn and her fifth in Cortina, tying her with retired Italian standout Isolde Kostner. Austrian great Renate Goetschl holds the record with 10 wins in Cortina.

"I've had some of my best results here, but I've also had some really bad almost crashes or crashes, and I feel like it's because I'm always on the limit here — you really have to push it and sometimes when you're pushing the limits making mistakes," Vonn said.