Friday, March 14, 2008

Vonn's overall title gives U.S., the first World Cup sweep since '83

BORMIO, Italy -- Lindsey Vonn completed the first American sweep of men's and women's ski titles in 25 years by winning the overall World Cup.

Lindsey Vonn

AP Photo/Armando Trovati

Lindsey Vonn was all smiles after adding the women's World Cup overall title to her downhill crown.

Vonn was assured of the win when she finished in the top 15 in the slalom and the only skier with a chance to catch her, Germany's Maria Riesch, failed to finish.

"It was amazing today," Vonn said. "I'm just really happy that it's over."

Bode Miller won his second overall title Thursday with a 12th-place finish in the super-G combined with Didier Cuche's announcement that he would not enter Saturday's season-ending slalom.

The last Americans to win both titles together were Phil Mahre and Tamara McKinney in 1983.

Vonn, who changed her last name from Kildow when she married former U.S. racer Thomas Vonn, became the second American woman to win the overall. She had already captured the season's downhill title.

Vonn lagged behind in 25th place after the first slalom run on Friday, but fought back with the fastest second run to finish 11th on the day, more than enough for the overall title.

"I was bummed out after the first run but I knew I had a good opportunity to charge in the second run and I kept charging and now I got some slalom points and won the overall," she said.

"It's amazing," Vonn said. "It was a tough day today with tough conditions but I just kept fighting and I took it."

Marlies Schild of Austria repeated as women's World Cup slalom champion by winning Friday's race, shortly after Vonn clinched the overall title.

Schild completed the two runs in a combined time of 1 minute, 52.78 seconds. Her nearest rival for the slalom title, Austrian teammate Nicole Hosp, finished fourth.

Veronika Zuzulova of Slovakia was second in 1:52.85, followed by Sarka Zahrobska of the Czech Republic in 1:53.02. Hosp, last season's overall winner, finished in 1:53.08.

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