Mayer claims first World Cup win

Olympic champion Matthias Mayer of Austria won his first World Cup downhill race at Lenzerheide on Wednesday. An upset winner in Sochi last month, 23-year-old Mayer claimed his new landmark triumph in the final World Cup downhill of the season. He took top spot ahead of Italy's Christof Innerhofer and Ted Ligety of the United States, who were tied at 00.11seconds off the pace. Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal, already assured of winning the downhill Crystal Globe for the season, placed fifth, which allowed him to jump back ahead of rival and defending champion Marcel Hirscher in the overall standings. The twice World Cup winner is now 41 points ahead of the young Austrian, but would have preferred to have gone better in his speciality race which Hirscher, a slalom and giant slalom specialist, skipped. The race for the top prize will go down to the wire with Svindal likely to move further ahead in Thursday's super-G before the giant slalom and slalom finales on Saturday and Sunday when the Norwegian will look to hang on to his lead. Source: AFP