Goggia takes overall downhill title and Vonn gets the final win

Sofia Goggia and Lindsey Vonn each had something to celebrate when their season-long rivalry in downhill concluded Wednesday in Are, Sweden.

Goggia followed up her Olympic downhill gold by claiming the season-long World Cup title in the discipline, while Vonn narrowly beat Goggia to win the race at World Cup finals and record career victory No. 82.

Goggia ended up three points ahead of Vonn in the standings.

“It was really a (tough) race but she won the race and I won this,” Goggia said as she hugged the crystal globe trophy. “It’s always an honor to race her.

“After the gold in Korea I knew that I could also win this cup but it wasn’t easy,” the Italian added. “I was a bit uncertain after missing a gate in training but I skied well today.”

The only other Italian woman to win the downhill title was Isolde Kostner in 2001 and 2002.

On the men’s side, Beat Feuz finished ahead of Olympic champion Aksel Lund Svindal to take his first career discipline title.

Austrian teammates Vincent Kriechmayr and Matthias Mayer tied for the win, finishing 0.04 seconds ahead of Feuz and 0.12 ahead of Svindal, giving the once-dominant team its first downhill victory of the season.

In a shortened race that was more like a sprint than a full downhill, Vonn clocked 55.65 seconds to finish 0.06 ahead of Goggia.

It was Vonn’s fourth straight World Cup downhill victory, after settling for bronze at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

The American is now within four wins of Ingemar Stenmark’s World Cup record of 86.

“I’m really happy to close out the season with a win, and I’m sure (Sofia) is very excited to have the title,” Vonn said. “Sofia always gives it 110 percent and sometimes she wins, and sometimes she crashes. I feel like she is very similar to myself. We have a great deal of respect for each other and it’s been fun to compete with her this year.”

After crossing the line first and pushing Goggia down to second, Vonn needed another racer to finish ahead of Goggia to win the title but the help never came.