TARVISIO, Italy — After a season that was by turns demanding and depressing, Lindsey Vonn finally found some relief.
She plopped on her back after crossing the finish line Friday and danced with her skis in the air, having successfully defended her World Cup super-combined title. It was a joyous moment in a season interrupted by a concussion that forced her to withdraw during the world championships.
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster,” Vonn said. “I just had to put it all on the line today and I did that, and that’s why I’m so happy and so proud of myself. It’s been a hard season in slalom, and I put one down there and I risked everything and it paid off.”
Vonn finished second to Slovenia’s Tina Maze in the season’s third and final super-combined, a result that gave the American enough points to clinch the crystal globe, the 10th World Cup championship of her career.
She finished with 220 points in the super-combi standings. Maze’s victory lifted her to second with 212 points. Germany’s Maria Riesch, the leader coming into the race, dropped to third with 205.
Riesch, however, still leads Vonn by 176 points in the overall standings. She is positioned to end Vonn’s run of three consecutive overall titles with only two more stops on the circuit after this weekend.
“I got some good points today,” Riesch said. “It wasn’t enough for the globe, which is a little bit sad, but I didn’t have a great slalom run and Lindsey deserved it today.”
Maze, fifth after the downhill leg, produced a blistering slalom for a combined time of 2 minutes, 13.54 seconds. Vonn was 0.18 behind and Riesch 0.55 back in third.
Maze was a popular winner, with the Slovenia border only about a 10-minute drive away.
Julia Mancuso of the U.S. was sixth and Leanne Smith was ninth for the best super-combi result of her career.
