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| - Viktoria Rebensburg completed the downhill sweep for Germany in Garmisch-Partenkirchenon Saturday with victory in the women's World Cup race - a week after compatriot Thomas Dressen claimed the men's title. In near perfect conditions, Rebensburg claimed the first downhill victory of her career in 1min 41.94secs, mastering the tricky, icy mid-section of the course nicknamed 'hell'. Italy's Federica Brignone was second at 0.61sec back with Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic third at 0.83 behind Rebensburg, the 2010 Olympic champion in the giant slalom. "That was crazy," said Rebensburg, who had a falling out with Germany's head coach over her training in the build-up. "It was important for me to just stay true to myself and focus on my skiing. "Things went well in training and of course it was very important to race well at home," added Rebensburg, who hails from the nearby town of Kreuth in the Bavarian Alps. After Dressen's downhill victory in the men's race seven days ago on the tricky Kandahar course, this is the first time two Germans have won in Garmisch since 2010. It's been a decade since Maria Hoefl-Riesch won the women's downhill and Felix Neureuther won the men's slalom in the same season. With overall World Cup leader Mikaela Shiffrin, who's father died last week, absent only a handful of skiers managed to finish within a second of Rebensburg. Swiss Corinne Suter, the overall downhill leader, was fifth at 0.98 while Austria's Stephanie Venier, the 2019 downhill winner in Garmisch, also struggled and finished 12th at 1.92sec. This was Rebensburg's 19th career World Cup victory yet only her first downhill triumph after 14 giant slalom and four super-G wins. This is her second World Cup win of the season having won the super-G race in Lake Louise last December. ryj/nr
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