The Alpine Skiing World Cup events in Val d'Isère and Val Gardena/Gröden continued with women's and men's downhill races.

Women's Downhill in Val d'Isère

Canada's Larisa Yurkiw led the race before the group of best skiers with the bibs No. 16 to 22. The winner of this season's all previous speed races, Lindsey Vonn of the USA, started her run well and was already 0.78 seconds below Yurkiw's time at the second split before losing control of her run and running out of the course. No finish and no points for Vonn gave a great chance for her rivals to catch her in the World Cup standings.

Starting after Vonn, Liechtenstein's Tina Weirather went to a tied second place with Switzerland's Corinne Suter, 0.14 seconds behind Yurkiw.

With Vonn out, Friday's combined winner Lara Gut became the favorite. Gut didn't disappoint. The Swiss took the lead by 0.41 seconds to Yurkiw.

Starting after Gut, her countrywoman Fabienne Suter went to second place, 0.16 second behind. The last starter of the top group, Cornelia Hütter of Austria went to fourth place, missing third-placed Yurkiw's time by only 0.02 seconds.

The later starters couldn't change the order on top. Tina Weirather and Corinne Suter finished in fifth place; Weirather's best result since the third place of the season-opening Sölden giant slalom and 21-year-old Suter's career-best World Cup race result.

With today's result, Fabienne Suter levelled Lindsey Vonn in the lead of the downhill World Cup. Vonn, however, has the advantage of two wins compared to Suter's none. Cornelia Hütter is in third place, 10 points behind, and today's winner Lara Gut is fourth, 28 points from leaders.

In the overall World Cup, Gut reduced Vonn's lead from 102 to two points.

Men's Downhill in Val Gardena/Gröden

Photo: Marco Trovati/AP

Already twice on podium this season, South Tyrolean Peter Fill had a great run in his home race and claimed the lead as the eighth starter. Fill's time was too good for last year's winner Steven Nyman; the three-time Saslong downhill winner Nyman lost 0.66 seconds to Fill.

Before the top group starting with the bibs No. 16 to 22, Fill was still leading with Austria's Max Franz in second place, 0.64 seconds behind, and USA's Nyman in third place.

Starting with the bib No. 16, Austria's Matthias Mayer couldn't match Fill's split times. Things got even worse for the 2014 Olympic downhill champion when he crashed heavily and fell on his right side, suffering a heavy thoracic contusion. The race was interrupted while he was treated on the slope and airlifted from there.

The interruption from Mayer's crash didn't interrupt the next man's performance. The defending downhill World Cup champion Kjetil Jansrud claimed the lead from Fill by 0.26 seconds.

Canada's Erik Guay, who missed the last season to recover from knee surgeries, had a good run, though couldn't match Jansrud and Fill but went to third place behind them.

The downhill World Cup leader and Friday's super-G winner on the Saslong slope, Aksel Lund Svindal, beat his countryman Jansrud also in the downhill, claiming the lead by 0.46 seconds. Starting after Svindal and concluding the top group, Guillermo Fayed of France split the Norwegians in the lead by going to second place, 0.43 seconds behind Svindal. That also denied Peter Fill a podium finish in his home race.

Two major changes happened after the top group. First Austria's Vincent Kriechmayr with the bib No. 24 went between Erik Guay and Max Franz. Then one of the last starters, the USA's 23-year-old Bryce Bennett with the bib No. 57, went to sixth place between Guay and Kriechmayr and improved his best World Cup race result from the 29th place of this December's Beaver Creek downhill.

The top three of the race also lead the downhill World Cup. Svindal leads the standings with a clean record of three wins and 300 points. Fayed is 110 points behind and Jansrud 131 points behind.

Svindal also claimed the overall World Cup lead from Marcel Hirscher, leading him now by 77 points.

The Alpine Skiing World Cup continues on Sunday with a men's giant slalom in Alta Badia, Italy, and a women's giant slalom in Courchevel, France.