GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, GERMANY — With the arithmetic clearly in her favor, Lindsey Vonn is closing in on a third straight World Cup overall title after finishing second to Maria Riesch on Wednesday in the season’s final downhill.
Three races remain and Vonn holds a commanding 225-point lead over Riesch, her good friend and rival. Vonn would have clinched the title with a victory, which is worth 100 points.
“I haven’t won it yet,” Vonn said. “It’s not finished yet. It’s still possible (for Riesch to win). It’s unlikely, but it’s not finished.”
Vonn, the downhill champion at the Vancouver Olympics, already clinched the downhill title and is also sure of the super-G crown.
Although Riesch cut Vonn’s overall lead by 20 points, the German has given up hope on that title.
“I am still 200 points behind, I don’t think it’s possible,” Riesch said. “The pressure is off. I am proud of (Wednesday’s) win. This is the course for next year’s world championship, and it’s good to know that I can be fast on it.”
Vonn finished nearly a half- second behind Riesch, who was skiing on her home course. It was her 14th career victory and fourth in the downhill.
“If Lindsey is half a second behind, I must have had a really good race,” said Riesch, who completed the Kandahar course in 1 minute, 34.82 seconds.
Vonn was .48 seconds behind, and Sweden’s Anja Paerson was third, 1.13 seconds back.
The next women’s race is today’s giant slalom.
Janka wins men’s downhill.
Carlo Janka of Switzerland edged Austrian Mario Scheiber to win the final downhill of the season and take the World Cup overall lead with three races left.
Patrick Kueng of Switzerland and Erik Guay of Canada shared third place.
