Fischbacher wins World Cup downhill

Andrea Fischbacher of Austria won her first World Cup race in over five years at Crans-Montana on Sunday, taking a closely-fought downhill. The 28-year-old Olympic downhill gold medallist at the 2010 Vancouver Games last won in the World Cup in a downhill at Bansko, Bulgaria in 2009. Fischbacher went fastest in Crans-Montana ahead of fellow Austrian Anna Fenninger with Olympic champion Tina Maze of Slovenia in third. "I can hardly believe it, there are no words to describe it," she said. "Of course it has not been easy. My aim was to get back on the podium for at least one more time and today it all worked out well." Overall World Cup leader Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany could only place ninth, allowing nearest rival Anna Fenninger to close the gap at the top. It could have been even better though for the Olympic super-G champion Fenninger had her country woman not come in late to knock her out of first place. "It seems there is always something that comes up to prevent me from getting a first World Cup downhill win under my belt," she said. Fenninger is now 157 points behind Hoefl-Riesch with seven races to go until the end of the season. There are three giant slaloms in which Fenninger excels and two slaloms, preferred by the Austrian. "I just need to ski better and fight harder in the races to come," said Hoefl-Riesch. Source: AFP