Lindsey Vonn takes World Cup ski titles hat-trick

Vonn has won eight races this season, 41 World Cups overall

United States skier Lindsey Vonn has clinched this season's World Cup downhill, super-G and super combined titles within three days of each other.

She claimed the super-G on Sunday after beating team-mate Julia Mancuso in Tarvisio in Italy to take an unassailable 171-point lead in the discipline.

Vonn is 96 points off the overall standings lead, held by German Maria Riesch, with six World Cup races left this season.

"It's been a great weekend for me," she said.

"I was most happy about the super-combined title. It's been a really tough season for me in slalom and to finally put a slalom run down that was right in there with all the other girls made me really happy.

"But I wanted to try to end the weekend with a win and I'm really happy that I was able to do that," added Vonn, after finishing second on Friday and Saturday.

The slalom and giant slalom titles are still to be decided but Vonn is out of the running in those disciplines.

The Olympic downhill champion was forced to miss the second half of last month's World Championships after suffering concussion during training.

But she is back to her best. The 26-year-old added: "That time off was what has enabled me to ski the way I am now.

"'m really thankful that we had the foresight to do that, and that I had support from my doctors, my coaches and my husband. That's what really has gotten me through this ordeal."

Vonn's win in Tarvisio was the eighth of the season and her 41st in World Cup races, one behind Sweden's Anja Paerson on the all-time list, headed by Annemarie Moser-Proell with 62.