Bennett of Squaw top U.S. skier in downhill

By U.S. Ski & Snowboard

Bryce Bennett of Squaw Valley finished 16th in Thursday’s FIS Ski World Cup downhill in Bormio, Italy, to lead three Americans into the top 25.

Dominik Paris of France edged out Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal by 0.04 second for his eighth World Cup downhill victory. Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud was third. Jared Goldberg (Holladay, Utah) was 18th and Wiley Maple (Aspen, Colo.) was 24th.

For the women, in her classic dominating style, Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.) built up a huge advantage on her first run, then charged in the second to win her 36th career FIS Ski World Cup race on a rutted slalom track in Lienz, Austria, Thursday.

“They did a really great job preparing (the course) after the rain and the snowfall. It was not easy, but it was a pleasure to ski,” Shiffrin said following her 27th career World Cup slalom victory.

Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener was second, followed by Sweden’s Frida Hansdotter in third. Resi Stiegler (Jackson Hole, Wyo.), whose father Pepi – the 1964 Olympic slalom gold medalist — grew up in Lienz, was 25th.

Shiffrin, who scored her first World Cup podium in slalom in Lienz in 2011, skied to a 1.14-second first-run advantage over Hansdotter. In the second run, she charged the top portion of the course, throttled back a bit in the steep middle section and then in classic Shiffrin style, charged to the finish to win by 0.89 seconds.