Lindsey Vonn rises to the occasion, wins downhill

It looked a ski race but unfolded almost like literature, with a grab-you beginning tethered to the page-turner end. There were as many twists as the “Franz’s Run” course had turns.

It would be hard to imagine anything better than what actually happened Wednesday, at the Olympics, in Whistler, above white snow and below blue sky.

Lindsey Vonn didn’t just become the first American woman to win the Olympic downhill, with a time of 1 minute 44.19 seconds.

Vonn did it with a throbbing shin under backbreaking pressure, which is why, when she won, she cried nonstop for almost two hours.

“Overwhelming,” Vonn said. “This is the best day of my life by far.”

Vonn didn’t win gold by chasing down a German, or a Brit, or an Austrian. She won gold by having to answer the searing run put down by teammate and rival Julia Mancuso. The two have been fighting it out on ski slopes since they were 10, and here they were battling it out with the biggest gates at stake.

Think of Arnold Palmer drilling a three-iron to within two feet of the pin at the Masters and saying to Jack Nicklaus: “Beat that.”

Mancuso, and a lot of others, thought she had swiped the gold out of the No. 10 start spot with her blistering run of 1:44.75, nearly a second ahead of leader Elisabeth Goergl of Austria.

After Mancuso finished, Chemmy Alcott of Great Britain walked through the media area and basically said: game over.

“I’ll call it right now,” Alcott said.

Vonn was on top the hill, set to ski 16th, with only two options to consider: succeed or fail. The toughest thing to do is to win when everyone has already engraved your name on the trophy. Vonn has dominated the World Cup this year, winning five of six races, but this was more than a tour stop at Cortina.

Thomas Vonn, Lindsey’s husband, told his wife that Mancuso had really nailed it with her run.

“I didn’t need Tom to tell me that,” Lindsey would later say.

Last year, before the world championship downhill in France, Lindsey was so nervous Thomas had to be called to the start gate to calm her down. He did, and she won.

This time, though, Lindsey told Thomas she didn’t need him to hold her hand.

“The expectations and weight of this were incredible,” Thomas said. “But she said: ‘I got this.’ ”

Vonn attacked the course and put aside the pain caused by a right shin injury she thought last week would keep her from competing.

“Olympic adrenaline is probably the best numbing cream there is,” Thomas said. “I think she would have skied without a foot today and been OK.”

Vonn knew when she flew over the jump “Hot Air” near the finish she was going fast, and she clipped the clock .56 of a second faster than Mancuso. Goergl, the Austrian, would end up with the bronze.

Nothing was set in gold yet, though, as Vonn had to wait for the one-two punch of Sweden’s Anja Paerson, a past Olympic champion, and Germany’s Maria Riesch -- Vonn’s best friend.

Paerson went flying over the final jump on a pace to knock Mancuso’s silver to bronze before she crashed violently and slid face-first toward the finish area.

Riesch was slow out of the gate, never a factor, and finished a distant eighth, more than two seconds off Vonn’s pace.

Vonn knew after Riesch it was pretty much over. She and Mancuso, who have sometimes feuded, would go 1-2 for America.

Mancuso’s silver was remarkable considering she has had to fight back from back injuries suffered after Turin, Italy, four years ago. The low point was last year, when she failed to finish in the top three of any World Cup race.

Her last podium was two years ago, in Whistler, where she finished third to Vonn’s second.

Something about the Olympics, though, and competing against Vonn on a big stage, summons her best efforts.

“They’ve been pushing each other since they were kids,” U.S. women’s coach Jim Tracy said.

As badly as she wanted it for herself, Mancuso could only give Vonn credit.

“I know Lindsey had a lot of pressure coming into the races,” Mancuso said. “And I think the worst thing is to watch an athlete choke under pressure. For her to rise above is . . . really inspiring to everyone.”

Vonn and Mancuso conquered one of the most challenging women’s courses in Olympic history. Forty-five skiers started the race but only 37 finished. It was like Daytona, except with skis and poles flying everywhere.

When Vonn injured her shin Feb. 2 while training in Austria, she considered herself officially cursed. “I thought my Games were over,” she said.

Four years ago, she was denied a chance at gold when she crashed in training two days before the downhill.

Vonn got out of a hospital bed to finish eighth -- one position behind Mancuso.

“I wanted it,” Vonn said of Olympic gold. “I wanted it more than anything else.”

Wednesday, she got it -- just as everyone predicted and expected, sort of.

“I feel like the weight has been lifted off my shoulders,” Vonn said.

For almost two minutes, she even forgot about her shin.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com