Skiing: Title treble in Canada a timely lift for Lindsey Vonn

Olympic downhill champion Vonn, who also achieved a rare weekend hat-trick in Haus im Ennstal in the 2009-2010 season, has now won 11 races at the Canadian resort – two Super-G’s and nine downhills. It was the 45th World Cup win of her career.

“This is the best way for me to face the situation. I don’t read the papers but I know what the media are talking about,” said the 27-year-old, who announced last week she was seeking divorce from her husband Thomas. “Skiing, competition are the best way to overcome my private situation.”

Vonn, who finished 0.19 seconds ahead of Austria’s super-combined world champion Anna Fenninger, said it had been her hardest win of the weekend. “I felt I was not skiing that well and I had to fight hard. I was not as relaxed as usual,” she said.

Fenninger equalled her best result in a World Cup race but said she was “a dozen kilos too light to be a match in the bottom part”.

Vonn’s compatriot Julia Mancuso repeated her performance last year in the same race by finishing third, 0.71 adrift.

Thanks to her perfect weekend, Vonn broke clear in the World Cup overall standings and leads Germany’s Viktoria Rebesnburg by 136 points. The three-times World Cup champion, winner of four of the five races held this season, warned there was more to come next week when she returns home to Beaver Creek on a piste which is rarely used by women.

“I’m really looking forward to returning to Beaver Creek and the Birds of Prey piste. I know it well. I was a forerunner on it in 1999,” she said.

At Beaver Creek in Colorado, meanwhile, Marcel Hirscher of Austria turned in a blazing final run to overtake Ted Ligety and win a World Cup giant slalom.

Hirscher finished in a combined time of two minutes, 38.45 seconds yesterday, holding off Ligety by 0.16 seconds. Fritz Dopfer of Germany was third.

Ligety held a slim 0.21-second advantage after a flawless opening run, but couldn’t duplicate the performance on his final pass. He made a big bobble near the end that cost him valuable time.

Hirscher had a smooth and steady run to earn his fourth World Cup win. Bode Miller had a ragged first run and didn’t make the top 30.

He hurt his back on an early mistake, but reported that it was only tweaked.

Another giant slalom will be held on the same piste tomorrow, replacing a race called off in Val D’Isere due to a lack of snow in the French Alps.