Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud took another step towards the season’s downhill title with a victory before home fans in Kvifjell yesterday.
Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec meanwhile clinched her sixth World Cup win of the alpine ski season with victory in the women’s super-g in Crans Montana, Switzerland.
Jansrud collected his sixth victory in Kvitfjell and his fifth of the season by clocking 1 minute 47.63 seconds at the Olympiabakken, edging Italy’s Peter Hill, his nearest rival for the downhill crystal globe, by 0.08 seconds.
It sets up a showtime in the final downhill race, in Aspen, Colorado on March 16.
Jansrud, who is the first skier to win two downhills this season, is on 407 points, with Hill on 374 and Italy’s Dominik Paris out of the running on 271.
Hill looked angry with himself after a fast finish proved just not enough to overhaul Jansrud’s time.
“It was actually a good run but because it was so close I was annoyed,” he said in a first television interview.
“I was racing mainly against Jansrud. In Aspen I have just one goal – to beat Jansrud and with as much of a gap as possible.”
Jansrud, whose victory followed third place in Friday’s downhill, said: “My lead can go (in Aspen). I will in any case be skiing for victory in the finale.
“The battle for the downhill globe is a bonus for me – after Kitzbuehel (when finishing out of the points) I thought it was all over.”
Switzerland’s Beat Feuz was third, at 0.14 seconds, in a tight finish, keeping Canada’s Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Switzerland’s Carlo Janka, Canada’s Eric Guay and Friday’s winner Bostjan Kline of Slovenia out.
The race was interrupted when Jared Goldberg crashed badly into the safety fencing but after initial attention the 22-year-old US racer was able to ski down the hill seemingly uninjured.
A super-g follows tomorrow in Kvitjfell, with Jansrud close to clinching the discipline title, holding a 137-point lead over Paris.

Back to back wins
In Crans Montana, Stuhec, whose maiden World Cup came only on December 2, skied the Mont Lachaux course in 1 minute 21.78 seconds, half a second faster than Italy’s Elena Curtoni.
It was Stuhec’s second straight super-g win to close the gap on overall leader Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States.
Austria’s Stephanie Venier was third at 1:09, keeping Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein off the podium.
Weirather’s fourth place was, however, enough to put her top of the discipline standings.
With two more super-g races left in the season, Weirather climbs to 306 points, six ahead of Switzerland’s Lara Gut, whose season is over through injury, and Stuhec on 290.
Shiffrin, who finished 13th, gained some points to advance to 1,223 points, with Gut on 1,023 and Stuhec – who was second in Friday’s combined – now moving to 965 with nine races remaining.
US star Lindsey Vonn and the Swiss duo Fabienne Suter and Jasmine Flury were among skiers to crash, with the 23 who failed to finish also including Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg.
A women’s combined event is scheduled Sunday in Crans Montana.