Fenninger wins again, puts pressure on Tina Maze

Source:AFP-Global Times Published: 2015-3-2 22:08:02

Austria's Anna Fenninger made it back-to-back World Cup wins when she took the super-G at Bansko on Monday.

Fenninger also won the super-combined race in the Bulgarian resort on Sunday and her second win in two days means that she is now just 44 points behind longtime leader Tina Maze of Slovenia in the overall World Cup standings.

The 25-year-old Austrian, winner of the super-G gold medal at the recent World Championships in the US, clocked 1 minute 14.59 ­seconds, 0.16 seconds clear of Maze with US speed queen Lindsey Vonn third at 0.28 seconds off the pace.

Fenninger now tops the super-G standings, taking over from Vonn.

Maze at one stage had been leading the overall standings by as much as 370 points, but is without a World Cup win since mid-December and now faces a tough battle to hold off the charge of Fenninger with just three weeks to go until the season-ending races in Meribel, France.

It was a similar story last year when Fenniger used a successful Olympic Games at ­Sochi to charge up the rankings and eventually claim her first overall World Cup crystal globe.

But she remained cautious over her prospects of once again taking the top prize ­despite the two wins in Bansko.

"Tina Maze is still the favorite," she said. "I still need to go out there and fight for the extra points I need. But you never know what might happen."

Maze can take comfort from the fact that out of the eight ­races remaining this season, two are slaloms where she is normally better than Fenninger.



Posted in: Winter Sport

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