Lindsey Vonn adds super-G title, extends record
American captures 19th crystal globe
Lindsey Vonn won the World Cup super-G title for the fifth time after winning the last race in the discipline on Thursday at the season-ending finals in Meribel, France.
The day after clinching the downhill title, the 30-year-old American extended her record to 19 crystal globes.
Vonn held a slender eight-point lead over rival Anna Fenninger heading into the race, and was under pressure after the world super-G champion posted the fastest time.
Vonn was only .01 second ahead at the first time split but then pushed it to .41 ahead at the second.
Despite landing awkwardly after a jump, Vonn kept accelerating and finished .49 clear of Fenninger, who gained some ground on Tina Maze in the race for the overall title. Maze finished third.
"Anna put a lot of pressure on me. I knew she was leading when I was at the top and I just skied as hard as I could," Vonn said. "I was definitely on the limit, especially at the bottom. I just attacked and I had nothing to lose and I'm just thrilled with the win today."
Fenninger, the defending World Cup champion, is 32 points ahead of Maze, who won the title the season before her. There is a team event on Friday before the weekend's slalom and giant slalom races.
After crossing the line, Vonn spun around quickly to check her time. She knew it was good, but the half-second margin seemed to surprise even her.
She raised both arms in the air, tucked her poles into her stomach, and then tumbled playfully into the snow. With her hands stretched out, Vonn lay on her back for several moments, savouring the moment as fans cheered her on at the bottom of the Roc de Fer course.
Vonn's 67th career race win extended the record she set earlier this season, when she overtook Austrian great Annemarie Moser-Proell's 35-year-old record of 62.
She has won the overall title four times in her career, but this season she's just happy to be racing again after missing nearly two years of competition with injuries.
She blew out her right knee in a super-G at the 2013 world championships in Schladming, Austria, and then hurt the same knee again in her comeback, keeping her out of last year's Sochi Olympics.
Vonn went nearly two years without a victory before winning a downhill in Lake Louise, Canada, in December.
"This year was up-and-down. I didn't have a chance to get in a lot of training because of my injuries," she said. "But when I have training and I have confidence, I ski like I did [here]."