Vonn, whose right knee was partially replaced in April by a titanium prosthesis enabling her to make a comeback on the circuit at the age of 40 after six years away from the sport, had already taken an impressive sixth place in the downhill on Saturday.
This time, wearing bib 31 and in only her third race of the winter, she carved her way smoothly down the piste, nudging in front of Lara Gut-Behrami and finishing 0.32sec behind third-placed Federica Brignone.
Vonn said she wasn’t “100 percent” but her form suggests she may be building well for next month’s World Championships in Saalbach, Austria.
“It was a real rodeo throughout the race,” she said.
“I couldn’t see anything, the visibility was poor. All I did was fight all the way to the finish. Fourth place with these mistakes is good enough.”
‘This is a dream’
The 22-year-old Macuga, meanwhile, danced with joy after her clean run of 1min 17.51sec took her to her first ever World Cup podium.
“I still don’t know what happened,” said Macuga who finished 0.68sec ahead of Austria’s Stephanie Venier and 0.92sec clear of Italian Brignone who won the downhill on Saturday.
“It was difficult, it was bumpy the whole way down but I lucked out with the light. The sun came out a little bit for me and I just took advantage of that.
