Austrian veteran Klaus Kroell won the World Cup downhill title yesterday after holding on to his lead over Swiss rivals Didier Cuche and Beat Feuz in the final event of the season.
Kroell finished the race seventh and edged Feuz, who came second behind race-winner Aksel Lund Svindal, by only seven points. Cuche, who will retire after the season, failed to score points in 17th.
“This is definitely the biggest achievement of my career,” Kroell said. “It’s fantastic to get this result here with so many fans supporting me.”
Photo: AFP
Svindal, a former overall champion from Norway, finished the 2.9km Planai course in 1 minute, 46.82 seconds. Feuz was 0.57 seconds behind and Hannes Reichelt of Austria was third, 0.67 behind.
Kroell, who led the downhill standings for the first time in his 14-year World Cup career, started the race 48 points clear of Cuche and 51 ahead of Feuz.
“The pressure on me was immense,” said Feuz, who extended his lead in the overall standings. “I had no idea what Klaus had done, so I was just very happy with my result. Second place is a giant relief.”
Feuz earned 80 points and he now leads Marcel Hirscher of Austria, who skipped the downhill, by 135 points with three races left.
Svindal, who crashed during Tuesday’s training run, put in a near-flawless run for his first downhill victory of the season.
Meanwhile, the US’ Lindsey Vonn ended the women’s World Cup downhill season in style by dominating the final race yesterday.
The overall champion, who had already won the downhill title, timed 1 minute, 46.56 seconds on the Streicher course to beat second-placed Marion Rolland of France by 0.92 seconds. Tina Maze of Slovenia came 1.22 seconds back in third.
It was Vonn’s 53th career title and her 12th win this season. Only Vreni Schneider of Switzerland won more races in one year — 14 in 1988-1989.
“This definitely is my best season ever. It went well in all disciplines,” Vonn said. “Twelve wins in one season, I can’t believe it’s true.”
Vonn earned her 17th podium finish this season, which leaves her one short of the record shared by Liechtenstein’s Hanni Wenzel in 1980 and Sweden’s Pernilla Wiberg in 1997.
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