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Vonn struggles to 23rd

It was a disappointing effort for American Lindsey Vonn on Saturday in the women’s World Cup downhill in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland – Lara Gut of Switzerland profited from Lindsey Vonn’s bad luck to win a World Cup downhill on Saturday.

In Vonn’s first start since setting the all-time World Cup wins record this week, her race unraveled when she hit a rut midway down the new Engiadina course en route to a 23rd-place finish.

Vonn was pushed wide into soft snow and lost all speed before finishing more than two seconds back in the final downhill before the Alpine world championships next month at Vail-Beaver Creek, where she lives.

“It’s disappointing but at the same time I skied well, just that one mistake,” Vonn, who placed 23rd, told The Associated Press.

Gut raced down in 1 minute, 43.82 seconds to get the downhill victory here that home fans had wanted since, at age 16, she first made a World Cup impact as a third-place finisher in 2008.

“It’s cool for me to finally find a way back,” said Gut, who likely would have won seven years ago but for crashing and tumbling sideways across the finish line. “Of course, it’s a special feeling here.”

Anna Fenninger of Austria was 0.32 behind Gut, and now has six runner-up finishes and no victories in defense of her overall World Cup title.

By placing third, Romania-born Edit Miklos got a first podium finish for her adopted country Hungary in 48 years of World Cup racing. She finished 0.58 behind Gut, taking advantage of her No. 2 bib to race down in lighter winds on a clear, sunny day.

Race conditions seemed ideal for Vonn to extend her record of 63 career World Cup wins, and organizers played a dance track with the lyrics “You’re a superstar” in the finish area when she started.

Vonn was fastest through upper sections but hit trouble at a tight left-hand turn and was almost turned around in the course-side snow.

“I was at a funny angle and my inside ski kind of booted out,” she said. “I did the best I could to recover it but clearly stopped.”

Vonn still leads the downhill standings though Fenninger used her 80 race points Saturday to close the gap to 79. Two races remain in March.

A super-G is scheduled for Sunday, the same discipline Vonn won on Monday at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

“I’m confident and feel good going into world championships, no matter what happens tomorrow,” the 30-year-old American said of the last race before the Feb. 2-15 event.

Gut’s second win this season, and 12th of her career, sets her up for the worlds on a steeper and more technically demanding Beaver Creek course which she prefers.

“I only raced it once and I was pretty fast,” Gut said. “People said, ‘St. Moritz and you is a perfect match’ but I had only won once.”

The new downhill layout at St. Moritz was raced for the first time in World Cup on Saturday and will host the two-yearly worlds in 2017.

“I think we have pretty exciting world championships to come,” said Gut, who has three worlds silver medals but no gold.

Fenninger, the Olympic champion in super-G, has specialized in second places this season.

“I don’t know why every time it is one girl faster,” said the Austrian, who has been runner-up to six different rivals. “In December I had some problem with self-confidence but now it’s 100 percent back.”

Fenninger is also second in the overall standings to Tina Maze of Slovenia, who holds a clear lead despite placing only 18th Saturday, 1.74 back.

Like Vonn, Maze was fast at the top before a mistake midway lost her speed. By ERIC WILLEMSEN

KITZBUEHEL, Austria – After winning a shortened version of the men’s World Cup downhill on the Streif course, Kjetil Jansrud was hugged by a Norwegian teammate who has come short on 10 attempts to win the classic race.

Injured Aksel Lund Svindal, hoping to recover in time from a torn Achilles tendon to compete at next month’s world championships, was among the first to congratulate Jansrud, embracing him in the finish area.

“It was so good to see him,” Jansrud said, before joking “but it’s always dangerous when you see him smiling and laughing because that means his Achilles is probably pretty good and he will probably be faster than us at the worlds.”

With his third downhill victory of the season, Jansrud became the first Norwegian winner on the Streif since Lasse Kjus 11 years ago.

Svindal, who has been racing here since 2003, had his best result when he placed second last year.

“I am really happy that Kjetil won,” Svindal said. “Watching a race from the sideline is not where you want to be. But that’s life.”

With 45,000 spectators waiting in light snowfall, fog on the upper part of the course forced organizers to delay the race by two hours, and then significantly lower the start gate as conditions failed to improve.

The clouds limited visibility, making it potentially dangerous for skiers who reach speeds of up to 140 kph (90 mph).

In the shortest downhill in World Cup history, Jansrud clocked 58.16 seconds – half the time usually needed on the 3.3-kilometer (2-mile) course – to edge Dominik Paris by 0.02. The Italian won the super-G on the same course Friday.

Guillermo Fayed of France came 0.21 behind in third for his second career podium.

“‘Kitzbuehel champion’ sounds really cool,” Jansrud said. “It’s an amazing day, a huge victory for me ... Winning here was a big goal of mine.”

While topping the leaderboard, Jansrud saw Paris clocking faster split times but the Italian lost more than three-tenths in the finish section.

“I wasn’t happy that we started from the Seidlalm as my best part is the upper part of the hill,” Jansrud said. “We always want to run the full race in Kitzbuehel. But first priority is the safety so it was a good call.”

Jansrud closed the gap on overall World Cup leader Marcel Hirscher, who doesn’t compete in downhill, to 82 points. However, the Austrian has two slaloms coming up – in Kitzbuehel on Sunday and nearby Schladming on Tuesday – to extend his lead.

Paris came just short of his second win in two days.

“Those two-hundredths annoy me a bit,” said the Italian, who won the downhill two years ago. “But it’s great to be on the podium. The race was great. Even with the shorter run, it was a fair race.”

American Steven Nyman, who won the downhill in Val Gardena last month, was 0.41 back in fifth, and Olympic champion Matthias Mayer of Austria trailed Jansrud by 0.47 in 10th.

Last year’s winner Hannes Reichelt of Austria finished 1.23 off the lead and shared 34th with Swiss skiers Mauro Caviezel and 2009 winner and 2010 Olympic champion, Didier Defago, who raced the Streif for the last time before retiring at the end of the season.

It was the final men’s World Cup speed race before the world championships in Beaver Creek, Colorado, in February.

The 75th edition of the traditional Hahnenkamm races is concluded by a slalom on Sunday.



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