Aksel Lund Svindal gained a third straight World Cup victory, winning the downhill at Beaver Creek ©Getty Images

Norwegian star Aksel Lund Svindal secured a third-straight International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup victory today in a downhill at Beaver Creek, while United States' Lindsey Vonn won a corresponding women's race at Lake Louise.

Svindal, who missed most of last season after tearing his Achilles tendom juggling a football, began this campaign in superb fashion with victory at Lake Louise last week.

He was similarly successful in sunny conditions today, cruising to victory at the American resort in 1min 42.34sec.

Compatriot Kjetil Jansrud finished 0.30 seconds behind in second place with Guillermo Fayed a further four tenths back in third.

Austria's Hannes Reichelt just missed out on the medals in fourth, while American Andrew Weibrecht led the home charge in fifth.

"It's so fast and that middle section, it's kind of risky," said the winner.

"I still have stomach pain, because I knew I had to charge hard in that section if I wanted to win, but I didn't feel like it.

"Every sense in your body is telling you to slow down a bit."

Lindsey Vonn won the women's downhill title in Lake Louise ©Getty Images
Lindsey Vonn won the women's downhill title in Lake Louise ©Getty Images

Vonn, meanwhile, gained her 68th World Cup victory with a dominant performance in the Canadian resort.

The 31-year-old negated the course in 1:50.51 to finish more than half-a-second clear of Austria's Cornelia Huetter.

It meant the American ends the calendar year in similar form to how she began it, when she equalled and then overtook Austria's Annemarie Moser-Proell for the most World Cup wins ever.

Huetter crossed the line in 1:51.08 as another Austrian, Ramona Siebenhofer, took bronze.



Related stories
November 2015:
 Shiffrin and Svindal ski to second wins at FIS World Cup
November 2015: Olympic champion bounces back from giant slalom disappointment with gold at Alpine Skiing World Cup
November 2015: Olympic bronze medallist secures giant slalom gold at Alpine Skiing World Cup
March 2015: Fenninger wins giant slalom to retain overall Alpine Skiing World Cup title
March 2015: Hirscher and Shiffrin claim World Cup titles on penultimate day of season