Vonn dominates Alpine skiing with 19th World Cup title

Lindsey Vonn dominated the Super-G at the Alpine skiing World Cup finals on Thursday to add a record-equaling 19th crystal globe to her trophy collection. The American, who won her seventh downhill title on Wednesday, took her 67th World Cup victory and her fifth Super-G globe. [caption id=“attachment_2163035” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Lindsey Vonn. Reuters[/caption] Vonn beat Austria’s Anna Fenninger by 0.49 seconds with Slovenia’s Tina Maze third and a further 0.31 adrift. The title, coming in a season that has seen her return from a year out and two knee operations, put her on par with Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark as the most successful skier of all time. Stenmark, who holds the record of 86 World Cup wins, achieved his 19th title on the men’s circuit in 1984. “Today it was win or lose. But my victory yesterday and the downhill globe boosted my confidence. My record in Cortina was also a liberation,” said Vonn. The American was referring to her 63rd World Cup win in the Italian resort in January which beat Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proell’s 1970s record for a female skier. “It was a great season but not perfect because I had ups and downs. I only started training in October and I can see that things are improving and that I’ll be ready to claim back the overall World Cup next season. That’s my goal,” said Vonn. Despite her nine victories this winter, Vonn is not in contention for the overall crown which remains open with only the giant slalom and slalom to come this weekend. Reigning World Cup champion Fenninger leads 2013 overall winner Maze by 32 points. The Austrian may have to take part in Sunday’s slalom to stay in contention even if she rarely races in the discipline. “I haven’t made my decision yet. We will have a team meeting to discuss it,” she said. As for Maze, the only skier to take part in all five disciplines, she said she had recovered from recent fatigue and was ready to fight to the finish: “I don’t look at the points, I concentrate on my skiing,” she said. Reuters