Alpine Skiing: Fill wins second straight World Cup downhill title

Italian Peter Fill secured the season-long Alpine Skiing World Cup downhill title for a second consecutive year on Wednesday following a runners-up finish in the final race of the campaign at the Colorado resort of Aspen.

Fill went through the season without winning a single downhill race but five podium finishes proved to be enough to take the title.

He was second in the standings heading into the Aspen finals, but when he finished runner-up behind race winner and compatriot Dominik Paris he garnered enough points to leapfrog Kjetil Jansrud at the top.

Jansrud will be kicking himself for letting the title slip from his grasp at the death.

The Norwegian ace won twice throughout the season and enjoyed two other top-three downhill finishes but ended the Aspen finale down in 11th position.

It left the 2015 downhill champion a mere 23 points off Fill’s tally and second in the discipline standings.

He will still come away from the season with one small globe, though, after guaranteeing himself the super-G title with a race to spare.

He has an unassailable lead in those standings with Thursday’s season-ending super-G race.

The day’s downhill honours went to Paris.

The 27-year-old produced a stunning performance down Ruthie’s Run to beat his fellow Italian, Fill, by eight one hundredths of a second.

It was his second downhill victory this winter following his triumph in Kitzbühel in late January.

He ended the season third in the standings.