Val-d’Isère: US speed queen Lindsey Vonn put a stuttering start to the season and a political furore as she stormed to a first World Cup victory in 11 months on Saturday, a warning to Olympic rivals.

As one of world sport’s most recognisable athletes, Vonn has never been shy of facing the cameras but she has been dealing with a backlash over her anti-Trump criticism after criticising the US government and President Donald Trump in a CNN interview.

The 33-year-old responded perfectly on the piste with a dominant win in the super-G in Val d’Isere, taking to 78 her record tally of World Cup victories.

“I don’t think I really ever went anywhere. I just had some bad luck and things weren’t really going in the first few races of the season,” Vonn said.

“I knew my skiing was there and I just had to execute on race day and make it all the way to the finish.” Vonn had to withdraw from a super-G in St Moritz last weekend with a back injury, for which she had treatment in Austria.

“My back’s much better. It was still a bit stiff at the start,” she said, stressing the challenge had been “more mental”.

“The physical issue that I had just made it hard to have confidence in trusting my body. It was mentally challenging to overcome that and be able to trust myself and push myself even though I’m maybe not moving as well as I normally do.

“Over the last few weeks, it’s been a question of ‘keep going, keep fighting, keep trying, keeping picking yourself back up’, especially after the first crash in Lake Louise.

“My body wasn’t quite up to par and so it was important for me to stay mentally tough and continue to fight.”

Austrian duo Nicole Schmidhofer and Anna Veith, previously Fenninger, respectively the world and Olympic super-G champions, finished fourth and 15th in a competitive field.

And Vonn said her aim was now turned on the February 9-25 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, having missed Sochi because of injury after claiming downhill gold in 2010.

“I’m back on track and my goal now is to continue to take this self-confidence, this momentum through to February,” the American said.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been on top in super-G, so it just proves that my skiing is good.”

Svindal aces downhill

Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal climbed to the top of the overall World Cup standings after winning the men’s downhill at Val Gardena on Saturday.

Svindal claimed his 34th World Cup victory pushing compatriot Kjetil Jansrud into second with Max Franz of Austria third. It was Svindal’s second win of the year following success at Beaver Creek and gave him the lead in the World Cup downhill standings as well.

Agence France-Presse