Vonn takes back-to-back downhill wins

American star Lindsey Vonn claimed her 44th career Alpine World Cup women's ski win, her third triumph of the season and her second downhill victory in as many days on Saturday. Vonn won her 23rd career World Cup downhill, her ninth all-time downhill at Lake Louise in 1min 51.35secs. France's Marie Marchard-Arvier was second in 1:53.03 with Austrian Elisabeth Goergl third in 1:53.26. "To have two wins here already is awesome and I just hope I can keep it going tomorrow," Vonn said. "It has been windy and we've had a lot of snow this week." US alpine speed queen Vonn has won both ski races since announcing she is to divorce her husband and coach, Thomas Vonn, after four years of marriage. The back-to-back triumphs on the Canadian mountain gave Vonn 10 overall World Cup victories at Lake Louise, matching Renate Goetschl's domination mark of 10 victories at one venue, the Austrian's 10 coming at Cortina d'Ampezzo. "I was happy with my run," Vonn said. "I made a few small mistakes. It was tough. There was a bit of tailwind at the bottom, which was pushing me around a little bit. "I think my run yesterday was a little bit better but I can’t really complain about it. A win is a win and I’m really happy." Vonn, 27, leaped into the overall World Cup lead past Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg, who missed matching Goergl's podium effort by only .01 to finish fourth on Saturday. Vonn has 322 points to 280 for Rebensburg and 211 for Goergl. Marchand-Arvier said Vonn is more than her rivals can handle. "Lindsey is very strong, I don’t think we can deal with that just yet," said the Frenchwoman. "But we have to push ourselves more and maybe one day be better and beat her. This is a lot of work, a second and a half is a lot. When you see her skiing, all you can say is -- how? It’s just beautiful. Maybe we have to get inspired by her and be better." After Vonn won a giant slalom in October at Soelden, Austria, she became only the fifth woman skier to win all five Alpine disciplines in World Cup competition. She won Friday's Lake Louise downhill in 1:53.19, 1.95 seconds in front of runner-up Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein. And after another dominating effort to win by 1.68 seconds on Saturday, Vonn will get a chance to complete a hat-trick on the Canadian mountain course in a Super-G race on Sunday. "A sweep is really difficult to do," Vonn said. "I'll just try to have a good inspection, see what the course looks like. I guess I just have to go out there and try to do the same things I did yesterday and today -- ski aggressively, execute the line and try not to make any mistakes." Goergl, who was happy with third after a crash in training, agreed, saying, "Lindsey is in her own league now." American Laurenne Ross suffered a severe crash on the lower portion of the course, halting the race after 28 racers had tested the Lake Louise layout until she could be removed from the mountain by helicopter to a hospital. US Ski officials said she suffered a major forehead cut and some bruises and scratches but suffered no major injuries.