Olympic Downhill Champion Sofia Goggia (ITA) won the ladies’ downhill title by three points, despite finishing second to Lindsey Vonn (USA) at the Audi FIS Ski World Cup Finals in Are (SWE) on Wednesday. Downhill World Champion Beat Feuz (SUI) took the globe on the men’s side over Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR).

Feuz held a 60-point lead in the downhill standings over Svindal heading into the final race and needed to finish no worse than sixth to guarantee that the crystal globe would be coming home with him.

While Matthias Mayer and Vincent Kriechmary (both AUT) finished ex-aequo in first place, Feuz took third place and secured the first World Cup globe of his career.

“To have this globe is a dream come true,” Feuz explained after the race. “I knew I had the 60-point advantage over Svindal but I still tried to focus on my own race. I knew I needed a sixth place to win the globe so when I came down and saw the green light it was a really big relief. I was nervous, of course, for the race and couldn’t say from the training what could happen today. It feels unbelievable for me, I got pretty close in 2012 and now I finally have the globe.”

Goggia is just the fourth Italian lady to win a World Cup globe, and the second to win a downhill globe. After the race, she said that winning the globe was confirmation that her Olympic gold medal in downhill was not a fluke. No doubt the combination of the two awards made for a dream season.

“I’ve been dreaming this since lifetime, and now I have it,” the Italian said in the finish area. “I really think it’s unbelievable. The last days were really tough. I was really exhausted and tired, and I used all the energy I had to perform my best in this race.”

For Vonn, the victory brings her one step closer to the all-time wins record held by Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark, who had 86 World Cup victories in his career. The American now has 82 victories to her name, and could surpass the record next season.

Source: fis-ski.com