Italy's Peter Fill, 33, was
crowned the winner of this season's downhill World Cup on
Wednesday.
He is the first Italian man to win the title in Alpine
skiing's blue riband event.
He clinched it by coming 10th in the final race of the
season at St Moritz, which was won by Switzerland's Beat Feuz,
giving him 26 points to take him up to a total of 462.
Fill started the race level on points with Norway's Aksel
Lund Svindal, who was out after suffering a knee injury and came
second in the overall standings.
"It was a great feeling and a dream come true for me
today," said Fill after the race amid snowfall on the
challenging Corviglia run.
"It was not an easy race for me today as the last racer,
the visibility wasn't good and conditions were hard, but in the
end it was a perfect day".
His main rival on the day was his compatriot Dominik
Paris, who, however, came only 19th and was still clearly in
pain after hurting his thigh and knee in a nasty fall in a bad
crash in practice on Tuesday.
Fill's other two rivals for the title, Norway's Kjetil
Jansrud and France's Adrien Theaux, came fourth and 16th
respectively.
Paris and Jansrud ended the season joint third in the
standings with 432 points.
"Compliments to Peter Fill, the downhill World Cup
winner," Premier Matteo Renzi posted on his Twitter account,
@matteorenzi.
"A wonderful page in the history of Italian skiing
#orgoglioItalia (#Italypride)".
Fill notched only two downhill podium finishes this season
but was rewarded for his ability to consistently finish in the
top 10.
"Just think that the 10th place in St Moritz was one of my
worst results this season," said the skier, who is from the
majority German-speaking Alto Adige province in northern Italy.
"I started out not knowing what the others had done and
where I needed to come to win the Cup.
"That's the best way to keep your head clear because
otherwise you lock up.
"That's why I had to ask my companions if I'd done it, if
that 10th place was enough".
The World Cup globe he won will go in his trophy cabinet
alongside the Super-G silver medal he won at the 2009 world
championships and the Super combined bronze he took at the 2011
world championships.
A fine day for Italian skiing was completed by Elena
Curtoni making the first World Cup podium of her career with
third place in the women's downhill.
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