Vonn wins women's super-G

Eurosport - Thu, 12 Mar 14:09:00 2009

American Lindsey Vonn added another crystal globe to her collection when she won the final super-G of the season to clinch the discipline's World Cup.

ALPINE SKIING American Linsey Vonn, winner of the 2008-09 overall alpine skiinig World Cup. - 0

Vonn, who had already bagged the downhill World Cup and made sure she topped the overall standings after this week's finals in Are, Sweden, clocked a best time of one minute 20.63 seconds on the Olympia course for her 22nd World Cup win.

Winner of the last five super-Gs she entered, she beat Italy's Nadia Fanchini by 0.08", with German Maria Riesch in third place 0.24" off the pace.

Swiss Fabienne Suter, who entered Thursday's race with a 15-point lead over Vonn in the super-G World Cup standings, made too many mistakes and came home in eighth place.

Fanchini thought she had bagged the crown when she bettered Riesch's time by 0.16" but a few minutes later, Vonn proved once again too strong for the rest of the field.

"I really wanted this globe badly because I had never won it," said the American, who is also the discipline's world champion.

"The super-G is such a difficult event and I had struggled a bit in it in recent seasons," she added.

Fanchini finished her best season to date with a good second place behind the untouchable Vonn and said she had no regrets.

"It's not today that I lost the super-G globe but in previous races. There was little I could do against a skier who won five super-Gs in succession," she said.

"But I'm happy with my season, I won my first World Cup race (in Lake Louise) and a medal at the world championships. It's a great boost for next season."

Riesch also proved with her third place she could play a more versatile role in the World Cup next season and challenge her best friend and arch-rival Vonn.

The slalom world champion will be the clear favourite in Friday's last slalom of the season.

Reuters

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