Goetschl wins last downhill; Mancuso 5th

LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland — Renate Goetschl won the season's final downhill Wednesday in a 1-2 Austrian finish, and Julia Mancuso's bid for the overall title slipped after a fifth-place showing at the World Cup finals.

Mancuso dropped from third to fourth in the overall standings. She is trying to become the first U.S. woman to capture the overall crown since Tamara McKinney 24 years ago.

Goetschl, who has already won the women's World Cup downhill title, completed the 1.6-mile course in 1 minute, 22.73 seconds.

Marlies Schild was the runner-up and increased her lead in the overall standings. Schild, a slalom expert, was a surprising second in 1:23.31 on the highly technical course. It was her best downhill result.

Marie Marchand-Arvier of France was third in 1:23.40, while Maria Riesch of Germany was fourth in 1:23.76. Nicole Hosp of Austria, the only other skier still in the chase for the overall, was sixth to remain in second place in the standings.

Schild leads with 1,382 points, 55 more than Hosp. Goetschl picked up 100 points to move into third place with 1,300, while Mancuso has 1,296.

Schild's previous best result in a World Cup downhill was a seventh-place finish in Tarvisio, Italy, 11 days ago.

Elisabeth Goergl of Austria crashed into the net while she was leading but was not injured.

Three World Cup races remain for the women. A super G is scheduled Thursday, with a slalom Saturday and a giant slalom Sunday.

Hosp and Mancuso were hoping to outscore Schild in the speed races because those are traditionally her weaker events. Goetschl was under the most immediate pressure, however, since she is not a realistic contender in the weekend's slalom and giant slalom.

The super G should give Mancuso, Goetschl and Hosp another crack at gaining ground on Schild.

Earlier, Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway won the men's downhill in a race marred by the crashes of former downhill world champions Bruno Kernen of Switzerland and Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin of France.