The 32-year-old, who made her comeback last week and finished 13th in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee in Austria, clocked an unrivalled time of 1 min 43.41sec.

She finished 0.15sec ahead of nearest challenger Lara Gut of Switzerland and 0.48 clear of home favourite Viktoria Rebensburg in third.

Vonn crashed in training back in November and underwent successful surgery to repair a fractured humerus bone in her right arm, forcing her out of action.

She was also ruled out for a large part of last season after she suffered a fractured leg during a crash during a super-G World Cup event in Andorran village Soldeu in February.

Victory today ensured Vonn her 77^th World Cup win, meaning she is now nine behind Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark's all-time record of 86.

"It feels amazing," the former Olympic downhill champion said.

"I just got to the bottom, and I cried.

"I worked really hard to come back and you know, I feel like sometimes I come back so quickly, everyone forgets how much time and energy, blood, sweat and tears it takes to come back without any training and just jump in there.

"And I had to trust myself and my team and my technician, and we all did our best and today was just amazing."

Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec, eighth today, continues to lead the downhill standings with 377 points.

Gut, whose runners-up finish today earned the first downhill podium of her career in Garmisch Partenkirchen, is second with 260.

The Swiss has gained 80 points on overall standings leader Mikaela Shiffrin, who is not competing this weekend, but still trails the American by 235.

Today’s men’s downhill saw Dominik Paris become the first Italian to claim multiple World Cup victories in the discipline in Kitzbühel.

Four years after his last downhill victory in the Austrian town, the 27-year-old posted a time of 1:55.01 to triumph.

France’s Valentin Giraud Moine was 0.21 behind in the runners-up spot, while compatriot Johan Clarey was 0.33 off the pace in third.

Last year's winner Peter Fill was 0.40 behind his Italian team-mate Paris in fourth.

Paris now leads the downhill leaderboard after three World Cup races on 142 points, two ahead of Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal with Fill third on 139.

Austria's Marcel Hirscher, who did not race today, remains top of the overall World Cup standings with 980.

Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen is second with 692, while Frenchman Alexis Pinturault is third with 655.

World Cup action is scheduled to continue tomorrow with a women’s super-G in Garmisch Partenkirchen and a men’s slalom in Kitzbühel.