Lindsey Vonn wins women’s downhill in Crans-Montana in 1st World Cup race since Olympics

Lindsey Vonn wins Crans-Montana women’s downhill

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland — Lindsey Vonn secured her third straight World Cup downhill discipline title Saturday with a narrow victory in her first race since the Vancouver Olympics.

The American beat Italy’s Johanna Schnarf by a mere 0.01 seconds after finishing the Nationale downhill course in 1 minute, 35.26 seconds.

Marianne Abderhalden of Switzerland was third, 0.38 seconds behind Vonn.

Vonn, whose only gold at the Olympics came in the downhill, extended her lead in the overall World Cup standings to 197 points ahead of Germany’s Maria Riesch, who was sixth. She also clinched the Crystal Globe for the downhill discipline by increasing her lead over Riesch to 189 points with just one race left next week in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Anja Paerson of Sweden, who is third in the overall and downhill standings, broke off her run after an apparent problem with her mask.

Vonn started 16th in a field of 48 under poor visibility and an icy wind that forced organizers to cancel Friday’s super-combined race for safety reasons. The International Ski Federation said it would not reschedule the event, prompting Vonn and the U.S. Ski Team to claim she clinched the super-combined title. However, only two events have been held this season, and FIS rules stipulate that three races must be run, making it unclear whether the federation would officially hand Vonn that title.

A dramatic change of conditions in the top part of the course halfway through the race allowed several slower skiers to post impressive times, including Schnarf, Abderhalden and fourth-placed Marusa Ferk of Slovenia. Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg, who surprisingly won the Olympic giant slalom, came in fifth.