Women's Downhill
France's Regine Cavagnoud won a dramatic downhill in Bormio in a race also marked by the astounding crash of Germany's Regina Haeusl, who still managed to win the World Cup downhill title in spite of breaking her leg as she crashed crossing the finish line.

	Regine Cavagnoud

Haeusl, who scored five 2nd places this winter, lost her balance after crossing the finish, breaking her right leg before hitting the air-pumped protection which surrounds the finish area. Haeusl was lucky that Austria's Renate Goetschl only reached 3rd place, causing her to miss her second consecutive downhill World Cup title by only five points. Goetschl was 6/100 of a second behind Switzerland's Corinne Rey-Bellet and 79/100 behind Cavagnoud.

Goetschl didn't seem to mind her short loss. "Regina deserve the victory, she has been quite consistent this winter and so unlucky today. She suffered a bad crash and she will need a lot of time to recover," Goetschl said.

Russia's Warwara Zelenskaja finished 4th in front of Germany's Martina Ertl and Canada's Melanie Turgeon. Italy's Isolde Kostner, another contender for the downhill World Cup, was only 10th. With three wins, she was the most successful downhill racer this winter, but she lost too many important points where she didn't enter the top-15, thus costing her the downhill title.

"I wanted to end the season on a last good result after some bad results in the last downhills..." — Regine Cavagnoud (FRA)

Cavagnoud felt ready for a last great downhill today after dominating the two training runs on Monday. "I wanted to end the season on a last good result after some bad results in the last downhills," said the French veteran who will turn 30 next June. "I had to prove something to myself here on this demanding course. It's excellent terrain for me since you have to be very aggressive and focus. I almost crashed in the upper part and I was lucky to make it safe through the finish line. The snow conditions were fine but the course was quite rough. You had to fight hard to keep your skis under control."

"After my success at Cortina d'Ampezzo, I had a hard time finding back all my momentum," Cavagnoud continued. "I missed some good opportunities in Santa Caterina. In Are, I was almost crashed at the big jump in training, and I couldn't take too many risks during the race. Here I was back were I wanted to be for a long time. I think I can be satisfied with my season after my bad crash last winter at the Ski World Championships at Vail."

	Haeusl

Renate Goetschl, for sure an expert, agreed with Cavagnoud's opinion. "What Regine has achieved this winter is quite phenomenal," said Goetschl, the Overall World Cup leader. "To come back from a bad knee injury is pretty tough, but to improve your level as Regine did this season is quite amazing. She skis better now than she did a year ago."

In Thursday's super G race, Cavagnoud feels able to fight for another victory against the favored Austrian and Canada's Melanie Turgeon. Cavagnoud is the favorite to win a superb Ducati Monster 600 Motorbike awarded by Infostrada, an Italian communication company, for the skier who will score the most points during the Finals. Motorbiking is her greatest passion next to ski racing.

— Patrick Lang, MountainZone.com European Correspondent