ALPINE:

Vonn clips Schnarf for downhill win, ices crystal globe

March 6, 2010 — The Canadian Press     ►Photos: Women's podium (Agence Zoom); Lindsey Vonn (AZ)  

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CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland — Lindsey Vonn won her third straight World Cup downhill title Saturday with a narrow victory in her first race since the Vancouver Olympics.

She beat Johanna Schnarf of Italy by a mere 0.01 seconds, and tied Bode Miller for the most career World Cup victories by an American at 32.

"It was a tough race out there," Vonn said. "Sometimes there would be a headwind, sometimes a tail wind. It was snowing really hard, and there was a lot of new snow on the track."

Vonn finished the Nationale downhill course in 1 minute, 35.26 seconds. Marianne Abderhalden of Switzerland was third, 0.38 seconds behind.

Vonn, whose only gold at the Olympics came in the downhill, clinched the crystal globe for the title by increasing her lead over Germany's Maria Riesch with just one race left.

Vonn captured her sixth win in seven World Cup downhill races this season. She extended her lead in the overall World Cup standings to 197 points ahead of Riesch, who was sixth.

Anja Paerson of Sweden, who is third in the overall and downhill standings, broke off her run after an apparent problem with her goggles.

A dramatic change of conditions at the top of the course midway through the event allowed several slower skiers to post impressive times, including Schnarf and Abderhalden, who celebrated their first World Cup podium finishes. Marusa Ferk of Slovenia was fourth, followed by Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg, a surprise winner in the giant slalom at the Olympics.

Vonn started 16th in a field of 48 under poor visibility and an icy wind that forced organizers to cancel Friday's super-combined race for safety reasons. The International Ski Federation said it would not reschedule the event, prompting Vonn and the U.S. Ski Team to claim she had won the super-combined title.

However, only two events have been held this season and FIS rules stipulate that three races must be run, making it unclear whether the federation would officially hand Vonn the title.

Vonn already has an unbeatable lead in the super-G standings.

Emily Brydon was 11th to lead the Canadians, with Britt Janyk 35th and Shona Rubens 44th.

For Brydon, it was an unlucky day to have bib 19 as heavy wind and snowfall weakened for some of the later racers.

"The conditions changed a fair bit after about racer 27 or so. But I mean the course stayed in good condition throughout," said Brydon. "When I look at the results, I was about fifth or so among my peers, so it was a fairly good result."  SRC

— Alpine Canada contributed to this report

Crans-Montana women’s World Cup downhill results