In a big day for American skiing, Lindsey Vonn earned the title of best US downhiller yesterday while Ted Ligety won a World Cup giant slalom.
Vonn won a World Cup downhill for the 10th time to break the US record shared by Picabo Street (1996) and Daron Rahlves (2006).
"I'm really honored," said Vonn, who already clinched the World Cup downhill title. "Picabo has been really behind me my whole career."
Vonn, from Vail, Colo., won in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, in 1 minute 23.57 seconds. Her fifth downhill victory of the season extended her overall World Cup lead.
With Bode Miller leading the men's overall World Cup standings, this could mark the first time Americans capture the men's and women's overall titles in the same year since Phil Mahre and Tamara McKinney in 1983.
Renate Goetschl of Austria was second in 1:24.18 and Nadia Fanchini of Italy was third. Julia Mancuso of Olympic Valley, Calif., was fourth.
Vonn (1,203 points) is going after her first overall World Cup crown. She has a 150-point lead on Austria's Nicole Hosp, who finished 27th yesterday.
In Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Ligety earned his first win since a giant slalom victory in South Korea two years ago.
Ligety is closing in on his first World Cup giant slalom title with one race left after winning in a combined 2:24.31. Ligety leads Benjamin Raich of Austria by 27 points.
Miller, of Franconia, N.H., finished 11th in the giant slalom and kept his overall lead (1,387 points) with five races remaining, including the slalom today.
Freestyle - Olympic champion Dale Begg-Smith of Australia and Aiko Uemura of Japan clinched overall moguls titles at a World Cup meet in Are, Sweden.
Uemura won the women's dual moguls for her fourth straight victory. Kayla Snyderman of Winchester came in third, with Michelle Roark (Winter Park, Colo.) fourth.
Nordic combined - Bernhard Gruber won in Oslo in the next-to-last World Cup meet.
Bill Demong of Vermontville, N.Y., was ninth. His 892 points are second in the overall standings, far behind Germany's Ronny Ackermann (1,160) and he is bidding for the highest finish by an American.
Speedskating - Shani Davis set a track record while winning the 1,000 meters at the World Single Distance Championships in Nagano, Japan. The Olympic gold medalist was clocked in 1 minute 8.99 seconds . . . Apolo Anton Ohno won the 500 meters of the World Short Track Speedskating Championships in Seoul, a day after being disqualified from the 1,500 meters. The two-time Olympic champion finished in 42.568 seconds to claim gold.
