Lindsey Vonn misses chance at World Cup downhill win after mistake

Lara Gut of Switzerland won a World Cup downhill on Saturday, while Lindsey Vonn missed a chance to extend her wins record as she almost skied out and finished well behind.

Gut raced down the new Engiadina course in 1 minute, 43.82 seconds in the final downhill before the world championships next month.

Anna Fenninger of Austria was 0.32 behind Gut, and now has six runner-up finishes and no victories in defense of her overall World Cup title.

Edit Miklos of Hungary got a career-best third-place finish, trailing Gut by 0.58.

Vonn was fastest through the top sections but hit trouble at a tight left-hand turn. She went into soft snow beside the course and was almost turned around. She recovered to finish 23rd, more than two seconds back.

“It’s disappointing but at the same time I skied well, just that one mistake,” Vonn told The Associated Press. “I was at a funny angle and my inside ski kind of booted out. I did the best I could to recover it but clearly stopped.”

Vonn still leads the downhill standings though Fenninger used her 80 race points Saturday to close the gap to 79. Two races remain in March.

It was Vonn’s first race since she set the all-time record for World Cup wins Monday with her 63rd victory in a super-G at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

A super-G is scheduled for Sunday, the last race before the Feb. 2-15 worlds at Vail-Beaver Creek, Colorado — where Vonn lives.

“I’m confident and feel good going into world championships, no matter what happens tomorrow,” the 30-year-old American said.

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Norwegian skier Kjetil Jansrud won a shortened version of the classic men’s World Cup downhill on the Streif course at Kitzbuehel, Austria

Fog on the upper part of the course forced organizers to delay the race by two hours, and then significantly lower the start gate as conditions failed to improve.

Jansrud clocked 58.16 seconds — half the time usually needed on the 3.3-kilometer (2-mile) course — to edge Dominik Paris by 0.02. The Italian won the super-G on the same course Friday.

Guillermo Fayed of France came 0.21 behind in third. It was the final men’s World Cup speed race before the world championships in Beaver Creek in February.

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Eric Frenzel of Germany won a Nordic combined World Cup race to claim his fifth straight title in Sapporo, Japan.

Frenzel finished 1.8 seconds ahead of local favorite and Sochi Olympic silver medalist Akito Watabe. Taylor Fletcher of the United States finished third, 3.5 seconds off Frenzel’s time.

Frenzel, who also won Friday’s event, finished second in the ski jumping portion and then erased a 26-second deficit to Fabian Steindl of Austria in the 10-kilometer cross-country race. With the win, Frenzel now has 821 points in the overall World Cup standings, 280 ahead of Watabe. Frenzel’s compatriot Fabian Riessle is third in the standings with 500 points.

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Peter Prevc of Slovenia earned his first ski jump World Cup win of the season in Sapporo, Japan.

Prevc had jumps of 130 and 131 meters for 276.4 points. Overall World Cup leader Stefan Kraft of Austria was second with 271.3 points after jumps of 127.5 and 131.

Roman Koudelka of the Czech Republic was third after earning 269.3 points with jumps of 127.5 and 130.5. Japanese veteran Noriaki Kasai was sixth with jumps of 128 and 122.5 meters.