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Beaver Creek focus on snow queen Vonn

By Mark Lamport-Stokes (Reuters) - All eyes will be on speed queen Lindsey Vonn at the Feb. 2-15 world championships in Beaver Creek where the American will be a red-hot favorite as she bids to add to the two gold medals she won six years ago. Though Vonn has had to contend with various injuries since 2009, including torn knee ligaments and a broken shin at the 2013 world championships in Schladming after crashing in the Super-G, she has been back to her regal best in recent months. The 30-year-old, one of only five skiers to have won a World Cup race in all five disciplines, has topped the podium five times in 10 races this season while establishing herself as the most successful woman skier of all time. Earlier this month, Vonn won a Super-G on the Cortina D'Ampezzo slopes to move past Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proell with a record 63rd World Cup victory before adding a 64th in St Moritz on Sunday, again in the Super-G. "When I started Alpine skiing, my goal was to win one race," Vonn said after her landmark triumph in Cortina. "Now I belong to the history of the sport. It's difficult to put into words what it means to me." Vonn, who landed Super-G and downhill gold at the 2009 world championships in Val d'Isere, will spearhead a strong American challenge in Beaver Creek along with her exciting compatriot, world and Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin. Aged just 19, Shiffrin has triumphed three times in her last 10 World Cup races, including two in a row in her strongest discipline, the slalom. Winner of the last race of 2014 in the Austrian resort of Kuehtai, Shiffrin followed up with victory earlier this month at the Snow Queen Trophy World Cup slalom in Zagreb and looks right on schedule to defend her world slalom title in Beaver Creek. "I feel like I am getting my slalom back, so I'm really excited," said Shiffrin, who made some technical adjustments during training in mid-December. "But I have to keep working." Other skiers who can be expected to flourish on the snow of Beaver Creek are World Cup leader Tina Maze of Slovenia, who claimed Super-G gold at the 2013 championships in Schladming, and Austrian Anna Fenninger, overall World Cup champion in 2014. Fenninger won Olympic gold in the Super-G last year in Sochi and finished second in that discipline, behind Vonn, in St Moritz on Sunday. (Editing by Frank Pingue)