OFTERSCHWANG, Germany — Lindsey Vonn edged closer to making U.S. skiing history — and her coach said she could do better.
The defending overall champion finished eighth in a giant slalom won by Kathrin Zettel on Friday and is poised to become the first American woman to capture two overall titles, much less in consecutive years.
“It’s great Lindsey has such a big lead in the overall, but she wasn’t happy with the way she skied today,” U.S. Ski Team coach Jim Tracy said. “She skis to be on the podium in every race, and she’s at a level where she can do that. She expects more of herself.”
Her nearest overall rival, Maria Riesch of Germany, was 22nd in the GS. Vonn has a 414-point lead in the overall standings with five races left and will clinch the title if she leads Riesch by 401 points or more after Saturday’s slalom.
Phil Mahre and Bode Miller are the only Americans to have multiple World Cup overall titles, with Miller winning two and Mahre taking three in a row beginning in 1981.
Zettel, second after the first run, won in a combined time of 2 minutes, 36.48 seconds. Teammate Elisabeth Goergl was second — .12 seconds back. Finland’s Tanja Poutiaine finished third.
Canadian wins downhill
KVITFJELL, Norway — Manuel Osborne-Paradis of Canada earned his first victory in a World Cup downhill, edging Michael Walchhofer of Austria by 0.31 seconds.
Osborne-Paradis covered the Olympiabakken course built for the 1994 Winter Olympics in 1 minute, 47.09 seconds. His previous best downhill result was a second-placed finish in 2007.
Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway was third, while Marco Sullivan was the top American, finishing 14th.
Demong wins Cup race
LAHTI, Finland — World champion Bill Demong of the United States rallied to win a nordic combined World Cup race.
Demong finished the individual Gundersen event, which began with a ski jump and ended with a 10-kilometer cross country race, in 26 minutes, 10.8 seconds. Anssi Koivuranta of Finland was 7.2 seconds behind, and Jason Lamy Chappuis of France was third.
