Anna Fenninger claims second straight World Cup title

Meribel, France — Austrian racer Anna Fenninger successfully defended her overall World Cup and giant slalom titles after winning the season-ending GS race on Sunday.

World giant slalom champion Fenninger finished 22 points ahead of Olympic champion Tina Maze of Slovenia in the overall standings and sealed the trophy in style with a commanding performance on the Roc de Fer course.

The 25-year-old Fenninger finished .38 seconds ahead of countrywoman Eva-Maria Brem — her only rival for the GS title — and .46 clear of Maze, the World Cup champion two seasons ago.

Fenninger dropped to the floor and sobbed after seeing her winning time, while the 31-year-old Maze looked pensive as she hunched over her ski poles.

Fenninger finished 106 points ahead of Brem in the GS standings.

American Lindsey Vonn, the downhill and super-G champion, finished third in the overall World Cup standings — but was 466 points behind Fenninger.

American Mikaela Shiffrin, who sealed the slalom title on Saturday for the third straight season, finished third in the GS standings. Vonn finished fifth in Sunday’s race and Shiffrin placed seventh.

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Marcel Hirscher celebrated his fourth straight World Cup title in style with a commanding win in a slalom race in the final race at the season-ending finals.

The 25-yeard-old Austrian clinched the slalom title for the third straight year and won his eighth race of the season, his third in slalom.

Third after the first run, Hirscher powered down the Roc de Fer course to beat Italian Giuliano Razzoli by .83 seconds and Russian Alexander Khoroshilov by 1.09.

Hirscher trailed Felix Neureuther by 55 points in the slalom discipline before the race, but the German blew his chance after finishing 12th. Hirscher became the first skier to win the men’s World Cup overall title for a fourth straight year.