Vonn's title hopes veer off course after losing strength in right hand

In a surprising start to the world ski championships, Lindsey Vonn failed to finish the super-G on Tuesday while Nicole Schmidhofer won a race for the first time.

Vonn, who in 2010 became the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in downhill, arrived in St. Moritz with a women's-record 77 career wins in World Cup races while Schmidhofer had zero.

Still, Vonn struggled to grip her right ski pole - a lingering problem since breaking her right upper arm in November - and seemed uneasy before taking a too-straight line and veering off the course midway down.

"I felt my hand was strong enough, but then I'm on the course and I don't know where my pole is," said Vonn, who last won a gold at the 2009 world championships.

Schmidhofer had only one runner-up finish since joining the World Cup circuit in 2007, and even that super-G result was four years ago.

After crossing the finish line, the Austrian leaned back and screamed in joy when she saw she was 0.33 seconds faster than second-place Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein.

Pre-race favorite Lara Gut of Switzerland, starting immediately before Schmidhofer, was third.

"It was surprising for me and I enjoyed the day," said Schmidhofer, who doubted she would win with Vonn and others yet to start.

"I thought, yes, this could be a medal, but not a gold medal."

Like Vonn, Olympic super-G champion Anna Veith of Austria also failed to complete the undulating course.

Both Gut and Vonn prepared in less-than-ideal shape after crashing at the previous World Cup races in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

Gut, who won three straight super-G races to start the World Cup season, slumped in the finish area and shook her head after seeing she trailed then-leader Weirather's time.

"It was my first run after my crash, so I'm happy I didn't forget how to ski," said Gut, who now has five world championship medals, but no titles.

Vonn plans to change equipment tactics for the combined event scheduled for Friday and her signature downhill event on Sunday.

"I am definitely going to have to tape my hand to my pole now," she said, adding that not to attach it was "too big of a risk".

After bad weather wiped out Monday's planned training session, all racers were getting a first good look at the course - and in a super-G race which rewards the ability to adapt at speed to an unfamiliar gate setting.

Schmidhofer did just that and was the first to clock 100 kp/h (62 mph) at the fastest point of the course.

The result repeated a 2007 junior worlds race, when Schmidhofer edged Weirather for gold in super-G. In their careers, both have had season-ending knee surgeries after crashes on the classic Cortina course.

"We both had a tough way to go. It wasn't easy for us," said Weirather, who missed the past two Olympics because of injuries.

Weirather won her first career championship medal at the same venue where Hanni Wenzel, her mother and an Alpine ski great, won slalom gold at the 1974 worlds.

"Everywhere I go, my mom has already won so it's nothing new," joked Weirather, who won a World Cup super-G in St. Moritz last March.

While Vonn and six others in the 46-racer lineup did not finish, 18-year-old Sabrina Simader of Kenya came safely down in 39th place, 8.68 seconds behind.

Simader's first world championship race was a big step on her path to starting in the 2018 Olympic downhill in Pyeonchang, South Korea.

Austria's Nicole Schmidhofer celebrates in the finish area after winning Tuesday's super-G at the alpine world championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland.Peter Schneider/keystone & Alessandro Trovati / AP