Austrians conquer St Moritz

Brigitte Obermoser tears to victory in St Moritz Keystone

Austria dominated the women's world cup downhill skiing in the Swiss resort of St Moritz on Saturday, taking five of the first six places.

Brigitte Obermoser won the course in 1:38.68 with her compatriot, Renate Götschl second.

Only a third place from Canada’s Emily Brydon prevented a complete Austrian sweep as she was followed closely home by Michaela Dorfmeister, Alexandra Meissnitzer and Tanja Schneider.

On home soil, top-placed Swiss was Elia Alpiger in 13th place. Ruth Kündig was 16th and Corinne Rey-Bellet 23rd.

Meanwhile, there were some upsets in the French resort of Val d’Isere with Alessandro Fattori taking his first ever victory in a World Cup event and leading an Italian clean sweep of the top three places in the downhill.

Fattori who covered the course in a time of 1:52.57 was followed by teammates Kristian Ghedina and Roland Fischnaller.

Switzerland’s Bruno Kernen had to be content with fourth place after he was knocked of the podium by Fischnaller’s late run.

Austria’s Hermann Maier who led the downhill last weekend tied for 16th place.

swissinfo with agencies