It was painful watching Lindsey Vonn try to return early from a serious injury to make the Olympics last winter. She was skiing World Cup downhills with no anterior cruciate ligament, and things could have gone horribly wrong.

Fortunately, she made it through that period without injuring herself even worse, and guess what?

Now she is back and winning World Cup downhills. She won the downhill Saturday in Lake Louise as part of a historic 1-2-3 podium sweep for U.S. racers.

Vonn’s victory was the 60th of her World Cup career, just two shy of the all-time record.

She skied with intelligence and guts to win, but to me the best thing about this Youtube video from Universal Sports is how happy Lindsey is after she wins.

She definitely earned it.

Last modified: December 11, 2014