Italian skier Goggia crowned, Vonn finishes third in final Olympic women's downhill

Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Sofia Goggia of Italy claimed the gold medal of Alpine skiing women's downhill Wednesday at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games. American skiing great Lindsey Vonn, gold medalist of the event at the Vancouver 2010, won bronze in her final Olympic downhill race.

Goggia clocked a competition-best time of one minute and 39.22 seconds, becoming the first Italian winner of the women's downhill event.

"I still haven't quite realized yet. I think I'll realize when I'm on the podium. I'm very proud. I feel so focused on the day that I haven't realized yet what I've done. It's about me and my skiing and not the others," said the Italian after clinching her first Olympic medal in any discipline.

Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway finished second, nine hundredths of a second behind Goggia.

Vonn, who withdrew from the Sochi 2014 due to injuries, displayed below-par performance in Pyeongchang. After finishing sixth in super-G, she trailed Goggia by almost half of a second to take away the downhill bronze.

"I gave it all today, skied a great race. Sofia just skied better than I did," said Vonn. "I thought I executed the line really well on the whole course, perhaps too well. I tried too hard to stay on the perfect line. But I've no regrets."

33-year-old Vonn still managed to break the record for oldest female medalist in Alpine skiing at the Winter Games, previously set by Michaela Dorfmeister at 32 years and 332 days when she won the women's super-G in 2006.

Talking about her Olympic downhill finale, Vonn added, "It was tough to contemplate this being my last Olympic downhill. I struggled to try to keep the emotions together, but I left it all on the mountain like I said I would. I skied really well, but I think Sofia is untouchable today."