Winning the Downhill globe for the first time is the crowning glory of what has been an outstanding season for the 29-year-old Styrian in which her celebrations included three victories – two of them in Downhill.
"When you're in a tuck position at times in places where you actually can't ski in this position because your speed is normally too high for it, then you know the gates are against you," said Schmidhofer, commenting on the adverse weather conditions. Schmidhofer's overall achievement by far overshadows the fact that the race didn't go to plan for her. "The globe is worth a lot, it reflects performance throughout the entire season. I'm extremely happy," says Schmidhofer.
Kriechmayr third in overall Downhill ranking
Fischer ace Vincent Kriechmayr also had a pleasing result in the final men's Downhill race of the season. The Upper Austrian racer finished in fifth place and narrowly missed out on the winners' podium but his performance meant that he secured third place in the overall Downhill ranking.