Austria’s Michael Walchhofer claimed his 19th World Cup victory yesterday when he won a men’s downhill in Kvitfjell, Norway, to take command of the discipline standings.
In a race that also crowned Croatia’s Ivica Kostelic as the overall World Cup champion this year, Walchhofer clocked a winning time of 1 minute, 45.92 seconds to finish 0.13 seconds ahead of compatriot Klaus Kroll.
Up-and-coming Beat Feuz of Switzerland, who won the first of two scheduled downhills on Friday, completed the podium after finishing 0.31 seconds back in third.
Photo: Reuters
Walchhofer’s fourth win of the season, his third in downhill, means he takes control of the standings in the blue riband event from Switzerland’s Didier Cuche ahead of the finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, next weekend. Cuche could only finish seventh.
As well as losing the downhill lead to Walchhofer, his setback handed Kostelic an unassailable lead in the overall World Cup standings.
The 31-year-old Croatian all-rounder now has more than a 500-point lead on downhill specialist Cuche with five races remaining. A victory in the World Cup gains 100 points.
Sister Janica Kostelic won the prestigious Crystal Globe three times (2001, 2003 and 2006) during her illustrious career.
Kostelic is also still in contention for the World Cup titles in super-G and slalom.
WOMEN’S SLALOM
REUTERS, SPINDLERUV MLYN,
CZECH REPUBLIC
Austria’s Marlies Schild claimed the slalom World Cup crown after victory in Spindleruv Mlyn, the Czech Republic, yesterday as Lindsey Vonn cut Maria Riesch’s lead in the overall standings to 23 points.
World champion Schild won in a combined time of 1 minute, 43.85 seconds, 0.93 seconds ahead of her compatriot Kathrin Zettel and 1.16 seconds in front of Tina Maze of Slovenia.
Schild now has an unassailable 111-point lead over Finland’s Tania Poutiainen, who only managed ninth place, heading into the last slalom of the season in Switzerland.
“It’s another win that wasn’t easy. I didn’t even know I had won the World Cup. Someone told me at the end. I feel very proud because I had an amazing season,” said Schild, who won six out of eight slaloms this season. “Every race that I finished, I won.”
With four races to go before the end of the season, Vonn cut further into Riesch’s lead in the race for the overall title by taking 16th place as her German rival failed to score any points.
Riesch straddled a gate in the early seconds of the second run and was eliminated.
“It’s interesting because for the first time the pressure is not on me,” Vonn said. “There is a lot of suspense left and everything can happen in the last races.”
Vonn has already claimed three globes this season in the downhill, super-G and the combined.
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