Hirscher and Vonn Overall World Cup Champions

With her closest rival – Tina Maze of Slovenia – almost 600 points behind her, Lindsey Vonn has claimed the prestigious World Cup overall title, proving that she has the determination, skill and endurance that set champions apart from the crowd. Having claimed a total of four World Cup trophies – overall, downhill, super-G and super combined – Vonn’s crystal globe collection stands at 16, with four of them being overalls. Vonn also set the women’s record for most points accumulated in a single season, her 1,980 points just falling short of her 2,000-point goal to match the overall record set by Austrian champion Hermann Maier. In a post-race interview Vonn expressed her disappointment in missing her points goal, noting that she would be trying hard to beat the record next year.

The 2011/2012 season has brought a string of successes for Lindsey Vonn, as she notched up 12 race victories and 97 podium finishes. Her wins currently stand at a total of 53 out of 305 World Cup starts. This is the second time that Vonn has claimed four titles, the first time being in 2010. Among Vonn’s goals for the future are to beat the 62 World Cup wins and six overall trophies held by Annemarie Moser-Proell of Austria.

The women’s World Cup trophies in the past season were claimed by experienced skiers, such as the slalom World Cup claimed by Austria’s Marlies Schild with her six wins out of ten races. In the men’s World Cup events, 23-year-old Marcel Hirscher claimed the overall World Cup trophy, with five slalom and four giant slalom victories this season. Beat Fuez pulling out of the last race was a contributing factor in Hirscher’s overall win, but the new reigning champion has proven that he is championship material.

Among the skiers retiring from World Cup events are Didier Chuche of Switzerland and seven-time world champion Anja Paerson of Sweden. Newcomers include Alexis Pinturault of France, who claimed six podium places in four disciplines, and Marcel Mathis of Austria who made it to the podium twice in 12 World Cup races.