Peter Fill first Italian to claim downhill crystal globe

BySportsbeat

Updated 16/03/2016 at 19:54 GMT

He might have scrapped a top-ten finish in the World Cup downhill finale, but it was still enough for Peter Fill to claim the crystal globe, becoming the first Italian to ever do so.

Peter Fill à St-Moritz

Image credit: AFP

Heading into the St Moritz, Switzerland, Fill was tied in first place in the downhill standings with the injured Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway.

And his time of 1:41.80 minutes might not have troubled the medals but it was good enough for tenth spot as he took the World Cup downhill title on 462 points.

In truth, his performance in St Moritz summed up the season for Fill as he has earned only two podium finishes, with his consistency seeing him land the crown.

Alpine Skiing

‘I’ll be there’ – Ryding targets another Olympics after his most successful season to date

09/04/2024 at 10:47

Emotional Peter Fill takes downhill title… and celebrates wildly

Svindal finished second overall while Kjetil Jansrud finished fourth in St Moritz, which was not enough to see him take the title as he finished third on 432.

There was plenty for the home crowd to shout about too as Beat Feuz won the event in 1:40.44, with American Steven Nyman 0.08 seconds back and Canadian Erik Guay completing the podium in third.

Fill: Someone had to come and tell me I had won

As for the women's downhill crown, American Lindsey Vonn had already collected the crystal globe ahead of the finale in St Moritz.

And in her absence Austrian Mirjam Puchner made the most of the opportunity and earned not only her first career World Cup victory, but her first-ever World Cup podium, topping Switzerland’s Fabienne Suter by 0.13 seconds.

Finishing in third place was Italian Elena Curtoni who was just 0.17 seconds behind in the close race.