Lindsey Vonn consolidated her overall World Cup lead by dominating in a giant slalom race in Are on Saturday.
The veteran American was fastest in the first leg after compatriot and nearest challenger Mikaela Shiffrin pulled up with a knee ligament injury during the warmup.
She then held off her challengers by the narrowest of margins for what was her fourth straight World Cup win this season after taking two downhills and a Super-G at Beaver Creek.
It was the 71st World Cup win of her career in 347 starts.
She finished 00.70secs faster than Eva-Maria Brem of Austria and 00.35secs ahead of Italy’s Federica Brignone
Vonn now leads Schiffrin by 104 points in the overall standings with the younger American highly doubtful for Sunday’s slalom where she would have been expected to make up some of the lost ground.
She comfortably won the seaon’s opening two slaloms, outclassing her rivals and had been a hot favourite to win again on Sunday.
“I like skiing at Are and I have had some good results here,” the 31-year-old Vonn said recalling that she won a giant slalom in similar fashion in March 2012.
“I watched playback of that win yesterday evening and I had plenty of confidence coming out of Lake Louise.”
The remaining races for this year consist of one downhill, one super-combined, three giants and two slaloms.