Lindsey Vonn fought to a third-place finish in the ladies' downhill at the Winter Olympics as Italian Sofia Goggia claimed gold on Wednesday.

Vonn, 33, created a piece of history by becoming the oldest female alpine skier to make the podium at the Games.

In what was likely her last Olympic downhill, Vonn – the 2010 gold medallist in the event – was the seventh competitor out of 39 to compete. She came out aggressive and at the first split was 0.17 seconds behind Goggia, who took the initial lead after competing fifth. At the second split she was .40secs behind Goggia, ending her chances of victory.

Vonn skied a safe run, but she did not take any risks with the lines she ran. Her time was one minute and 39.69 seconds, which gave her the bronze after Goggia won gold with a 1:39.22 and Norway's Ragnhild Mowinckel, who competed 19th, snuck into second with a 1:39.31.

"I skied a great race," Vonn said during NBC's broadcast. "Sofia just skied better than I did. I thought I executed the line really well. Maybe I executed too well. I tried to stay on the perfect line. I have no regrets. I'm very happy."

Vonn became very emotional after Mowinckel moved into silver, but her team-mates were there to console her.

"It was tough to contemplate this being my last Olympic downhill race," Vonn added. "I struggled to keep the emotions together. But I'm proud of my performance.”

Goggia, who has three World Cup downhill wins, gave Italy their first Olympic gold in the event.

Mowinckel's second-place finish was rather unexpected as she has never finished in the top five in a World Cup downhill.