Vonn seals World Cup downhill title with Crans Montana victory

LINDSEY Vonn picked up where she left off in the alpine skiing World Cup, capturing her tenth victory of the season for the downhill event in Crans Montana.

CRYSTAL GLOBE: Lindsey Vonn seals the downhill crystal globe after her sixth victory from seven World Cup races in Crans Montana, Switzerland (Getty Images)

The American was scooping her sixth victory from seven downhill races this season, speeding down the Swiss run in 1:35.26 minutes to strike gold.

Italy's Johanna Schnarf enjoyed an encouraging debut Olympics in Vancouver last month, finishing fourth in the super G, and continued her form to score her first World Cup podium, 0.01 seconds back in silver.

Meanwhile, Swiss skier Marianne Abderhalden smashed her personal best finish of 21st to strike silver, another 0.37 back.

But Vonn, who added the Olympic downhill title to her world crown in Vancouver, was the star in Switzerland, with victory signalling the defence of her downhill World Cup crown with one race remaining at the World Cup finals in Garmisch-Partenkirchen next week.

Vonn's best friend Maria Riesch was the only one who could catch the American at this late point in the season, but the German finished sixth in Crans Montana, 0.64 off the pace.

Victory for Vonn also edged the 25-year old closer to the defence of her overall World Cup title as she moved on to 1411 with Riesch on 1214 and Sweden's Anja Paerson third on 886.