CORTINA DAMPEZZO, Italy -- Overall World Cup leader Maria Hoefl-Riesch won a shortened downhill Friday and established herself as the favourite to take away two of Lindsey Vonns titles. Hoefl-Riesch took full command of the downhill standings that the injured Vonn dominated for the past six years and improved her status as the favourite for the womens downhill at the Sochi Olympics on Feb. 12 -- the race Vonn won at the 2010 Vancouver Games. "The downhill globe is a big goal for me," Hoefl-Riesch said. "The last years it was always impossible because Lindsey was so strong. I already was skiing strong in the last years but there was never a chance, because I was not consistent enough on every single track like Lindsey. "And of course I would love to win the Olympic downhill," Hoefl-Riesch said. "Thats the biggest race in skiing." Julia Roth of Waterloo, Ont., was 44th. Larisa Yurkiw of Owen Sound, Ont., did not start the first run. With her parents and husband in attendance, Hoefl-Riesch won in 1 minute, 17.84 seconds on the Olympia delle Tofane course for the 27th World Cup victory of her career. "I knew that I had to attack a lot with a shortened course and that it would be very tight," Hoefl-Riesch said. "It was really flat light and tricky in a few turns where some girls had big problems. But not me." Hoefl-Riesch said that she tweaked her left knee while landing a jump and that she felt some pain but was not overly concerned. Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein finished second, 0.31 seconds behind, and Nicole Schmidhofer of Austria was third with the No. 39 bib, 0.75 behind. Lara Gut of Switzerland was fourth and Stacey Cook of the United States was fifth as the pair missed out on the podium by 0.01 and 0.03 seconds, respectively. It was the best result this season for Cook, who finished second in two downhills in Lake Louise, Alberta, last season. The victory gave Hoefl-Riesch an 85-point lead over Weirather in the downhill standings after six of eight races, with wins worth 100 points each. In the overall standings, Hoefl-Riesch leads Weirather by 158 points. Hoefl-Rieschs other two wins this season also came in downhill, in Lake Louise. She also has podium results in slalom, super-combined and super-G and credits part of her all-around success to Hermann Maiers former physical trainer, Heinrich Bergmueller, who she began working with in the off-season. "I was also training hard the summers before but its a new way with a new coach and some things are different," she said. "I feel much stronger this year and with my recovery for all disciplines." Vonn ended her season recently to tend to her right knee, which she first injured in a horrific crash at last years world championships in Schladming, Austria. Hoefl-Riesch is friendly with Vonn but she wasnt about to take anything away from her own success just because her rival is out now. "Thats skiing," said Hoefl-Riesch, who had four serious injuries in 2005. "I was not at the Olympic Games in 2006 and no one was asking the winner of the medals there if they miss me. So a medal is a medal and a title is a title, no matter who is competing and who is not." Vonn used to spend Christmas at Hoefl-Rieschs home in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and they remain in contact. "We were just writing a little on WhatsApp a little bit," Hoefl-Riesch said. "I think shes doing OK and I hope that we can talk on the phone before I go to Sochi." Due to overnight snow and difficulty preparing the course, the start was delayed for half an hour and the course was shortened slightly -- chopping off about 20 seconds of racing. With softer snow and flat light, it was a sharp change in conditions from Wednesdays only training run, which was held under bright sunshine. Conditions improved for later starters as a tailwind moved in. The wind helped Schmidhofer, whose only other podium finish also came in Cortina, having finished second in a super-G last year. "I was hoping for a tailwind," Schmidhofer said, before she addressed her chances of being selected for Sochi. "I hope the coaches look at my result." The revised start put skiers directly into the courses best-known section, the Tofane schuss -- a long straightaway between two high rock outcroppings. "I generally do OK when there are straight shots out of the gate like that," Cook said. "So that was a little confidence booster to kick out of the gate, get on my skis and not have to do too much and then get into it. And then I just tried to not ski a perfect line but ski perfect body position and really attacking. And it seems to have been fast." Elisabeth Goergl, the Austrian who won a super-G on Thursday, lost control after hitting a gate and slammed into the safety padding at full speed. But she got right back up, skied down and said she was not injured. Another downhill is scheduled for Saturday, followed by a second super-G on Sunday to round out a series of four races in four days. Two of the races were originally scheduled for last weekend in Cortina but were wiped out due to heavy snowfall. The other two were moved from Garmisch due to a lack of snow in the German resort. Cheap Fake Shoes Online . Sopoaga hit the upright with his first shot at goal from 15 metres. He then kicked nine goals in succession -- two conversions and seven penalties -- before being replaced in the 62nd minute, three points short of the Highlanders record for most points in a match. Trendy Wholesale Shoes . QUARTERBACKS Carson Palmer (vs Colts)Last week: 30/42, 419 yards, 2 TDsWinners of their last three and now tied for the final wild card spot in the NFC, the Cardinals are worth keeping an eye on. http://www.cheapshoes.us.org/. 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Cheap Shoes Online Free Delivery .C. -- Marcus Paige and his North Carolina teammates have endured so many wild swings -- big wins, surprising losses, NCAA drama -- that no one can blame their Hall of Fame coach for wondering whats next.KITZBUEHEL, Austria - Italian skier Dominik Paris won his first career World Cup super-G, and Alexis Pinturault of France dominated the combined event for his eighth victory on Friday.Two years after his victory in the classic Hahnenkamm downhill on the same course, Paris finished the Streif in 1 minute, 9.99 seconds to beat Austrians Matthias Mayer by 0.06 seconds and Georg Streitberger by 0.34,I had a good feeling but I didnt think I was going to win today, said Paris, who won silver in downhill at the 2013 world championships, and whose previous three World Cup wins all came in that discipline.I like this hill, he added. When you are in good shape you can take risks. And I attacked it all the way down.Paris hadnt won in his last 21 World Cups, his longest winning drought since his first victory in Bormio in December 2012.Norways Kjetil Jansrud was 0.78 back in seventh and remained in the lead of the discipline standings with 316 points, followed by Paris on 285.It wasnt a perfect run, said Jansrud, a winner of two super-Gs this season. No big mistakes but tactical mistakes. I didnt take enough risks.The super-G was a separate World Cup race, but also counted as the first portion of the combined event, which was completed by a floodlit slalom.Pinturault, who also won the event last year, finished in an aggregate time of 2 minutes, 1.36 seconds to defeat overall World Cup leader MMarcel Hirscher of Austria by 0.dddddddddddd69 and Ondrej Bank of the Czech Republic by 0.94.It wasnt easy after the tough super-G. I had to push really hard, the Frenchman said.Hirscher, who finished the super-G 2.78 off the lead in 44th, extended his lead in the overall standings. The three-time defending champion landed on 916 points, followed by Jansrud on 734 and Pinturault on 611.Apart from Jansrud, most favourites for the downhill skipped the slalom to save energy for Saturdays race, the marquee event of the three-day Hahnenkamm event.Mayer didnt compete in the slalom, either.Getting beaten by 0.06 is bitter, the Olympic downhill champion said. Tomorrow is another chance for a win. I will use the afternoon for my preparations.Ted Ligety, the world champion in super-G and super-combined, failed to finish. The American was the first starter and missed a gate after landing from a jump toward the end of his run.Ligetys teammate, Andrew Weibrecht, placed fifth in the super-G for his career-best World Cup result.Its a great run for me, said the Olympic super-G silver medallist , who finished 18th in the combined event. I was aggressive, stuck to my plan.The super-G was interrupted for 20 minutes following a nasty crash by Switzerlands Marc Gisin, who was taken to hospital by helicopter. The Swiss ski team said Gisin had a mild concussion but escaped other injuries. ' ' '