Fenninger skis to Garmisch win
March 3, 2013
The 23-year-old Anna Fenninger finished in 1 minute 20.43 seconds on the Khandahar course on Sunday, defeating Germany's Maria Höfl-Riesch, who clocked in 0.20 seconds off the pace. American Julia Mancuso finished third, 0.23 seconds back.
It was second victory this World Cup season for Fenninger after winning the giant slalom at in Semmering, Austria.
"I deserved it, I was ready for this win and I believed in myself," said Fenninger, who won the world super combined title on the Khandahar course in 2011. "I made a few mistakes on the top part and really risked everything on the bottom section, but everything came together. It feels good."
Death threat against Maze
Slovenia's Tina Maze, who won Saturday's downhill at Khandahar, finished fourth, 0.43 seconds back. Maze was also placed under police protection after organizers received a death threat against her, with two bodyguards close by after the race.
The threat came in an anonymous email received Saturday afternoon, after her downhill victory gave her a record tally of 2074 points in a season, breaking Austrian Hermann Maier's previous mark of 2000 set in the 1999-2000 season.
"We had to take [the threat] seriously, our job is to keep everyone safe here," said Peter Fischer, chief of the organizing committee, adding that the email was immediately turned over to the police.
"That's sad," said Maze. "I guess it’s part of the game but it didn't disturb me that much."
"It shouldn't be part of the game but life is not perfect," she added. "It's not nice for me, it's not nice for my team. I haven't seen the email … they want to ruin your day, ruin the record, but I enjoyed the day 100 percent."
Maze is still competing with Mancuso for the season super-G title, which will be decided at the World Cup finals in two weeks at Lenzerheide, Switzerland. But the Slovenian's record points tally already assures her of the overall title.
Svindal clinches super-G
Aksel Lund Svindal clinched the World Cup super-G title on Sunday in the men's World Cup in Kvitfjell, Norway. Finishing in 1 minute, 29.79 seconds, the Norwegian beat Austria's Georg Streitberger (0.52 seconds back) and Werner Hell of Italy (0.57 seconds back).
It was Svindal's first victory in front of home fans. He has now won four out of this season's five races, moving him to within one super-G title of the record holder Maier.
The win also gives Svindal an unassailable 480 points, head of Italy's Matteo Marsaglia, who is on 249 points, and Austrian Matthias Mayer, who has 228 points.
Svindal's latest achievement has narrowed the overall points race. The Norwegian now has 1,186 points overall, trailing just behind leader Marcel Hirscher on 1,215 points. American Ted Ligety is third with 809, while Germany's Felix Neureuther is fourth with 798.
dr/rc (AFP, AP, dpa)