Slovenia’s Tina Maze won a women’s World Cup super-combined race in Tarvisio, Italy, on Friday ahead of American Lindsey Vonn, who clinched the Crystal Globe in the discipline for the second consecutive year.
It was the first victory on the World Cup circuit this season and the 10th of her career for Maze, who won the giant slalom gold and super-combined silver at the world championships in Germany last month.
Fifth after the morning downhill which was dominated by Vonn, the Slovenian clocked the fastest time in the afternoon slalom to finish 0.18 seconds ahead of the 26-year-old American, with Germany’s Maria Riesch third, 0.55 seconds back.
Photo: Reuters
Vonn already holds three Crystal Globes for the overall World Cup title and six others in various disciplines.
The American, who trails Riesch by 176 points in the overall World Cup standings with eight races left, can also clinch the downhill and super-G titles this weekend.
“It was a great day,” Vonn said. “I knew that it was really close with the points and I knew I had to ski a great slalom run to get the title. I don’t think it was my best slalom run, but I was aggressive the whole way and that was my goal. Super-combined titles are not easy to win because there are only three races, so you can’t make any mistakes.”
Having dominated the overall World Cup over the past two years, the American said she has not given up on the battle to beat Riesch.
“There are some more titles on the line this weekend with the downhill and super-G, and going to try and win those,” Vonn said. “At this point in the season, Maria [Riesch] is quite a bit ahead of me in the overall title hunt and so I’m just skiing relaxed, having fun and skiing like I have nothing to lose. I’m still skiing like I have a chance to win the overall, but I have to be realistic about it too.”
NORDIC SKIING
AFP, OSLO
Double Olympic champion Petter Northug came in for some harsh criticism on Friday after being accused of trying to ridicule rivals Sweden at the world Nordic ski championships.
Northug, who won 50km and team sprint gold at the Vancouver Olympics last year, was on his way to anchoring Norway to victory in the men’s 4x10km relay when he made a gesture deliberately designed to “hurt the Swedes.”
After taking an unassailable lead on the last climb, the 25-year-old stopped abruptly before the finish line to look back at the chasing pack.
He crossed over the line, sideways, just as a group of rivals, which included Sweden’s 30km pursuit Olympic champion Marcus Hellner, approached the finish.
Northug has previously been labeled arrogant, but some observers believe he stepped over the mark.
“There is no place for that kind of gesture in cross-country skiing,” blasted commentators on Swedish TV station SVT.
However, Northug was unrepentant. A week after Hellner took gold ahead of him in the men’s sprint, the Norwegian — with tongue in cheek — tried to explain his finish-line gesture.
“I had to give them a little hope,” he said. “We wanted it to really hurt the Swedes. So we kept to that part of the deal and we also took the gold medal.”
Hellner refused to be drawn on the controversy.
“That’s Petter’s style. He’s a bit arrogant,” the Swede said.
Sweden teammate Johan Olsson added: “It would have been funny if he’d fallen over.”
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