Lindsey Vonn finished third at Saturday's race in Sochi but it was enough to clinch the World Cup downhill title

Story highlights

Reigning Olympic champion clinches fifth consecutive World Cup downhill title

American finishes third at Sochi event to take unassailable lead in the downhill standings

Vonn now looking to secure fourth overall World Cup title

CNN  — 

Lindsey Vonn from the U.S. has won her fifth consecutive women’s World Cup downhill title after finishing third at Saturday’s alpine skiing event in Sochi, Russia.

The reigning Olympic downhill champion finished behind Austria’s Elisabeth Goergl and race winner Maria Hoefl-Riesch from Germany to clinch the title with two races to go this season.

Saturday’s result gives the 27-year-old Vonn an unassailable lead of 231 points over her nearest rival Hoefl-Riesch in the overall downhill standings.

“I would have loved to win (today’s race) but that’s skiing; no matter how hard you try you can’t have everything! Of course I have achieved the main objective and that is to win the downhill globe,” Vonn said, AFP reported.

“It means a lot. Getting this out of the way means one less target to achieve in what remains of the season and therefore I can focus on the overall, and even more so if I clinch the super-combined on Sunday,” Vonn added.

Saturday’s result means Vonn is also a step closer to claiming her fourth overall World Cup title.

The American now holds a 448-point lead over second-placed Tina Maze from Slovenia (who finished 12th on Saturday) with just one month to go until the end of the season.