Lindsey Vonn clinched her fourth consecutive downhill crystal globe Saturday by finishing second to Anja Paerson, who posted her first victory of a frustrating season.
Paerson clocked 1 minute, 26.91 seconds down the Prampero course to record a commanding win in a season hampered by knee problems.
Vonn finished 0.73 behind and now holds an insurmountable 143-point lead in the downhill standings over German rival Maria Riesch, who finished sixth but remains the overall leader.
Vonn and Riesch have each won three downhills this season, with Paerson now becoming the only other woman to win in the discipline. Last season, Vonn won six of eight downhills.
"I wasn't able to win as many times as last year, so it definitely wasn't easy," Vonn said. "Maria gave me a run for my money and I had to keep fighting hard the whole season."
It was the 42nd World Cup victory of Paerson's career, improving her fourth-place position on the all-time list and moving her two in front of Vonn.
"It's been kind of a struggle this season and I finally picked a run where I could (be) perfect," said Paerson, who pulled up short due to knee pain during a race on home snow in Are last weekend.
While she knew she had clinched the title, Vonn didn't celebrate upon crossing the finish line, showing her competitiveness at having missed a race victory and a chance to cut even more points off Riesch's overall lead.
"I didn't know that Anja had had such a good run, but I didn't see what else I could have done to ski faster," Vonn said. "I made a little mistake in the middle but she was just really fast on the flats."
Riesch is now just 136 points ahead in the overall ranks with Vonn favored to make up more ground in Sunday's super-G, when the American can clinch her third discipline title in three days, having taken the super-combined globe Friday.
"It's still possible," Vonn said. "In ski racing, things can change very quickly. I obviously would love to be ahead right now but I'm not in a bad position. I'm skiing like I have nothing to lose and sometimes that can be really dangerous."
Having made a mistake midway down, Riesch was visibly disappointed with her run, slamming into the protective padding at the finish and banging her pole in frustration.
"I just saw that I'm eight hundredths back with this mistake, so I was frustrated in the first moment, but you can't always have runs without mistakes," she said. "It's just normal that one race is not perfect. This is not my favorite downhill track, it's really, really flat and sixth place is not a really good result but it's still OK."
In a day full of emotions, not even Paerson celebrated, instead grimacing in pain due to her knee problem.
"Landing that jump in the middle of the course was really painful," said Paerson.
Elisabeth Goergl, who swept gold in super-G and downhill at last month's world championships, finished 1.17 back in third, while Friday's super-combined winner Tina Maze was fourth.
The race was marked by perfectly sunny and cool conditions, although the course was shortened due to the lack of a training session on the upper section.
"I was a bit lucky that we didn't ski the top part, so I could stay fit the entire run," Paerson said, adding that she still hasn't decided whether she'll continue racing next season.
"Of course when you win you feel positive and everything is going your way, but it's still a big decision. If you race, you have to be dedicated every hour every day and I have to see if I still have the motivation."
