Austrian Anna Fenninger wrapped up her first World Cup overall title by finishing second in the World Cup Finals super-G in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, on Thursday.
Swiss Lara Gut delighted the flag-waving home crowd by winning the race and securing the super-G season title.
Gut crossed in 1 minute, 17.14 seconds. Fenninger was .61 behind, followed by last season’s overall champion, Tina Maze, at .95 back.
Fenninger, 24, is the youngest women’s World Cup overall winner since Lindsey Vonn won the second of her four titles in 2009.
She is also the first Austrian women’s winner since Nicole Hosp in 2007.
With countryman Marcel Hirscher likely to win the men’s title, it sets Austria up to be the first nation to sweep the men’s and women’s overall crystal globes since 2002.
Then, it was also Austria accomplishing the feat with Stephan Eberharter and Michaela Dorfmeister.
Fenninger, the Olympic super-G champion and giant slalom silver medalist, has been on a tear to close the season. She recorded her fourth podium finish in five starts since the Olympics on Thursday.
She overtook German Maria Hoefl-Riesch in overall points in Wednesday’s downhill after Hoefl-Riesch crashed and had to be helicoptered off the course. Hoefl-Riesch will not enter the final two races Saturday and Sunday.
It’s possible Hoefl-Riesch, 29, will retire after this season. Maze is 30. Vonn is 29 and coming off major surgery. The door may be open for Fenninger to be the overall star for years to come, though Mikaela Shiffrin may have something to say once she adds speed events.
Lenzerheide super-G
1. Lara Gut (SUI) 1:17.14
2. Anna Fenninger (AUT) 1:17.75
3. Tina Maze (SLO) 1:18.09
4. Nicole Schmidhofer (AUT) 1:18.22
5. Regina Sterz (AUT) 1:18.59
6. Nadia Fanchini (ITA) 1:18.73
7. Comelia Huetter (AUT) 1:19.00
8. Viktoria Rebensburg (GER) 1:19.21
9. Kajsa Kling (SWE) 1:19.22
10. Julia Mancuso (USA) 1:19.34
11. Stacey Cook (USA) 1:19.54
Final super-G standings
1. Lara Gut (SUI) — 448
2. Anna Fenninger (AUT) — 357
3. Tina Weirather (LIE) — 310
15. Julia Mancuso (USA) — 104
15. Stacey Cook (USA) — 104