SAINT-MORITZ, Switzerland, Jan 28 AFP – American Lindsey Vonn claimed her eighth World Cup win of the season and 49th of her career on Saturday, dominating the St Moritz downhill.

Vonn, the Olympic champion in the discipline, finished ahead of Germany’s overall World Cup champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch and Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein.

Vonn, who won a super-combined on the course on Friday, has a chance to make it three consecutive wins — and thus reach a landmark 50 in the series — when she lines up for another combined event on Sunday.

After failing to win the last two downhills, Vonn was untouchable Saturday in what is her strongest discipline, relegating her podium rivals to over a second and a half in arrears.

Hoefl-Riesch deprived Vonn of a fourth World Cup crown last season when she claimed her maiden Crystal Globe after a thrilling end to a duel which also dented the pair’s hitherto strong friendship.

This season, Vonn is is no mood to lose out on a fourth World Cup triumph. She already has a lead of 352 points on Slovenian Tina Maze, who finished fourth on Saturday having finished second to Vonn in the super-combined Friday.