Guay and Hoelzl get discipline titles
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany (dpa) - Eric Guay of Canada won the last super-g race of the alpine ski season on Thursday and captured the discipline World Cup trophy with it.
Kathrin Hoelzl of Germany then claimed the women′s giant slalom trophy by coming second behind Slovenian Tina Maze.
The overall World Cup remained undecided for both genders, with Benjamin Raich closing in again on men′s leader Carlo Janka and Maria Riesch also still with a theoretical chance as Lindsey Vonn crashed out.
Guay won the men′s race in heavy snowfall in 1 minute 26.36 seconds from Croatia′s Ivica Kostelic (1:26.75) and Norway′s Aksel Lund Svindal (1:29.99).
And when Austrian Michael Walchhofer managed no better than 15th Guay stole the discipline title from third place ahead of the race. Guay topped the final standings with 331 points ahead of Walchhofer (316) and Svindal (314).
"I didn′t know it would happen. I was so far back," said Guay, who won the last two super-g races for the trophy. "I had a great run."
The overall World Cup race swung slightly back in the favour of the Austrian Raich heading into the final two races, a giant slalom Friday and slalom Saturday.
Switzerland′s Janka retained the lead with 1,097 points but with an 11th place finish got less points than Raich, who moved to 1,059 points after finishing sixth on the day.
Both are considered equally strong in the giant slalom even though Janka is the world and Olympic champion. Raich is the better slalom skier. A victory is worth 100 points.
"I am very satisfied. It is wide open," said Raich.
Meanwhile, veteran Liechtenstein skier Marco Buechel bid farewell after almost two decades of racing in style, sporting a dark suit and tie as he leisurely swung down the Kandahar piste.
"I have skied all of my life and now its suddenly over. But it was the right decision," said the 38-year-old Buechel, who got his first of four World Cup wins in Garmisch in 2003.
Maze then won the women′s race in a combined total 2:10.72 minutes and with her eighth career win denied a German podium sweep.
World champion Hoelzl had 2:10.95, the two-time Olympic champion Riesch 2:10.93 and Olympic giant slalom champion Victoria Rebensburg was fourth with 2:11.16.
Hoelzl claimed the discipline crown with 471 points ahead of Austria′s Kathrin Zettel (394) and Maze (372).
"I am delighted and overwhelmed. (But) It is a pity that I missed the victory by just three hundredths," said Hoelzl.
Riesch stayed alive in the overall World Cup race by finishing third and Vonn crashing out in the first run. But Vonn still has a healthy lead of 164 points going into the final two races, 1,571 points to Riesch′s 1,406).
The women′s super-g is Friday and the slalom Saturday. dpa jb adh