By Ski Racing Magazine News Service

CORTINA d’AMPEZZO, Italy — At the site of her first World Cup podium, American Lindsey Vonn tallied her 38th career win today in super G.

Vonn, who hasn’t finished lower than second in a speed race all season, earned her fifth victory of the season and second in a super G with a smooth run down the 1,745-meter Olympia Delle Tofane course. The 20th racer out of the start, Vonn led at every split and crossed the finish line with a time of 1 minute, 11.66 seconds to beat second-place finisher Anja Paerson of Sweden by 0.43 seconds. Vonn also climbed 71 points closer to overall leader Maria Riesch of Germany (ninth today), who currently owns a 1,052 to 927 advantage.

“I’ve been making a lot of mistakes in the last few races so today I just tried to have a clean and solid run and I’m really happy with it,” said Vonn who has become a high-speed recovery expert this season. “This gives me a lot of confidence for the next two races this weekend.”

Paerson secured her 93rd career World Cup podium and eighth in Cortina ahead of Austrian Anna Fenninger, who was only seven hundredths of a second behind Paerson in third place today.

Vonn’s winning time bumped her teammate Julia Mancuso off the podium by 0.13 seconds into fourth place with a time of 1:12.26. It was Mancuso’s fourth top-five finish of the season.

Gone were the snow-deteriorating high temperatures that canceled last weekend’s GS and slalom races in Maribor, Slovenia. The cloud cover that dimmed both this week’s downhill training days broke today and the famous Cortina sun was out for race day as the Dolomites were shimmering in all their glory while temperatures stayed in the high teens.

Women’s World Cup racing continues in Cortina on Saturday with a downhill. A second super G is scheduled for Jan. 23.