Slovenian Tina Maze won Friday鈥檚 world championship downhill in Beaver Creek, Colorado. The 31-year-old, a winner of two world championships and two Olympic gold medals, followed up a silver medal effort in the super-G on Tuesday, .
Prerace favorite Lindsey Vonn struggled in the technical middle section and placed fifth. 鈥淗onestly, I did the best I could,鈥 she told the AP. 鈥淚t just wasn鈥檛 a great run. It was a good run but not a top-five-worthy run. There鈥檚 not a lot to be sad about.鈥 Vonn was the top American; Julia Mancuso came in 16th, Laurenne Ross placed 17th, and Stacy Cook took 19th.
Vonn has surpassed all expectations in her comeback season from two major knee injuries, breaking Annemarie Moser-Pr枚ll鈥檚 record for World Cup wins last month. She currently leads the downhill and super-G World Cup standings and sits third overall, behind Maze and Austrian Anna Fenninger. Vonn will have two more chances at the world championship podium this season: She鈥檒l toe the line in next week鈥檚 super combined and giant slalom events鈥攔aces she hasn鈥檛 contested in more than two years, .