TARVISIO, Italy — Here's a measure of Lindsey Vonn's strength in the downhill: She no longer bothers to celebrate the season-long championship.
She won the downhill crown for the fourth consecutive year Saturday by finishing second to Sweden's Anja Paerson. A day earlier, Vonn clinched her second straight super-combined title. She now has 11 World Cup championships for her career, with another possibly on the way in Sunday's super-G.
This latest title hardly prompted a ski-dancing display in the snow as was the case Saturday. Instead, Vonn appeared upset when she crossed the line a distant 0.73 seconds behind. Still, she wasn't about to take this milestone for granted, especially in a season in which she left the world championships because of the lingering effects of a concussion.
"You can never expect any titles," she said. "Nothing is given to you and you have to fight for every point and every place, and this year I wasn't able to win as many times as last year, so it definitely wasn't easy."
Elisabeth Goergl, who won gold in the super-G and downhill at last month's world championships, finished 1.17 back in third. Tina Maze, Friday's super-combined winner, was fourth on a sunny, cool day and on a shortened course because of curtailed training on the upper section.
Vonn's runner-up finish gave her an insurmountable 143-point lead in the downhill standings over German rival Maria Riesch.
LIGETY THIRD IN GIANT SLALOM: At Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Olympic champion Carlo Janka of Switzerland won a men's World Cup giant slalom race on Saturday, 10 days after having surgery to correct an irregular heartbeat.
French teenager Alexis Penturault had a blistering second run to jump from 16th to second, trailing Janka by 0.02, while world GS champion Ted Ligety of the United states was 0.12 back in third.