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Seizinger, Nyberg Ski To Victories

WHISTLER, British Columbia -- Olympic champion Katja Seizinger of Germany has picked up where she left off in Norway by winning her second World Cup women's downhill of the season in convincing fashion. Seizinger, fastest in both training runs on Saturday, sped down the 2.8-kilometer Dave Murray downhill course Sunday in one minute, 50.96 seconds to beat Sweden's Pernilla Wiberg by nearly one full second.


Wiberg, who moved into the overall women's World Cup lead, clocked 1:51.95. Third place went to Canadian Michelle Ruthven in 1:52.05.


Kate Pace, who stands second behind Seizinger in the World Cup downhill standings, was fourth in 1:52.15 ahead of Swiss Olympic slalom double gold medalist Vreni Schneider.


Seizinger, 21, increased her lead in the downhill standings to 64 points over Pace with only one race remaining at the World Cup finals in two weeks at Vail, Colorado.


Wiberg, who won Lillehammer gold in the combined, moved into the overall World Cup lead ahead of Swiss Vreni Schneider, who was a surprising fifth on Sunday in 1:52.46.


Wiberg leads with 1,289 points, 34 ahead of Schneider with eight races left on the schedule.


Meanwhile in Aspen, Colorado, Fredrik Nyberg of Sweden flashed through fog and a dense, wet snow on Sunday to win a World Cup giant slalom race with a stirring second-run charge.


Fourth after the first run, Nyberg solved the riddle of the poor visibility with a second run of 53.75 seconds to win with a combined time of 1:51.26.


Christian Mayer of Italy finished second in 1:51.46 and took over the World Cup giant slalom lead when Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway slumped to eighth place.


Matteo Belfrond of Italy claimed third place with a time of 1:51.50, just ahead of Franck Piccard of France.


Piccard led after the first run, but adjusted poorly to changed conditions, a fate that also befell Urs Kaelin of Switzerland. The Olympic bronze medalist stood second after the first run, then struggled down in the second leg to finish fifth, one place ahead of Alberto Tomba of Italy.


Nyberg jumped into third place in the World Cup giant slalom standings and has a chance for the championship going into the World Cup finals at Vail in two weeks.


Mayer leads with 418 points. Aamodt, who skied poorly in all three Aspen races, has 394 and Nyberg 384.

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