Vonn within 10 of Stenmark's record after Garmisch downhill win

Lindsey Vonn put in a devastating display to win the women's downhill in Garmisch on Saturday and claim her 76th World Cup victory to edge closer to Ingemar Stenmark's record. The US ski queen obliterated the field, building up speed down the Kandahar course to shave half, then nearly a full second off Fabienne Suter's previous fastest time before crossing the line 1.51 sec ahead of the Swiss skier, who finished second. Germany's Viktoria Regensburg was third in front of her home crowd, finishing 1.57sec behind Vonn. The 31-year-old American now has a total of 76 World Cup wins in her career and 123 podium finishes since her debut in 2000. This was the 38th World Cup downhill victory of her career and she is now within 10 wins of Sweden's Stenmark who holds the overall record of 86 World Cup victories. "It wasn't easy today, we were all about nine seconds faster than in the training run," said Vonn after warm weather had forced Friday's training run to be cancelled to protect the piste, which had frozen hard overnight. "It was difficult because the lines were different to how they were in training. "It wasn't mistake-free, but I was smart in the right places and had the speed until the finish. "It was tough for the first few skiers and I saw how they faired, there were a few curves which you had to take a bit easier. "I think it was an advantage to have raced here at the world championships (in 2011, second in downhill) when the conditions were similar." This is the sixth World Cup win of Vonn's career in Garmisch, which cements her place as overall leader, as she claimed her first downhill victory here in the Bavarian Alps since 2012. She has won the downhill twice, the Super-G three times and the slalom once in Garmisch. Vonn can add to her tally in Sunday's Super G race.