The International Ski Federation is worried by the high number of serious accidents in recent World Cup races, says its president Gian Franco Kaspar. Downhill world champion John Kucera and World Cup slalom champion Jean-Baptiste Grange are just two who will miss next year’s Winter Olympics through injury.

Chemmy Alcott overcame sickness to grab joint 11th in the giant slalom at the latest leg of the World Cup in Sweden. With just two months before the Vancouver Winter Olympics, it was another respectable showing from Britain’s 27-year-old from Surrey.

Michael Walchhofer tamed a tricky slope to win a men’s World Cup super-G in Val d’Isere and offered a resurgent Austrian team a further morale boost. The 34-year-old Walchhofer used his vast experience in difficult conditions with poor visibility to hand his Alpine nation their second victory in as many days in the French Alps resort after Benjamin Raich’s super-combined win on Friday.

The Finn, who won the season opener in Soelden, pulled her back in training in Aspen and did not compete in Lake Louise last week. And although the injury has improved, Poutiainen has decided to more on her conditioning.

After landing by helicopter in the Val d’Isere resort where he made his big breakthrough, Alpine skiing’s new sensation Carlo Janka could appreciate how much his life had changed in just over a year. “I do notice a lot of things around me are different,” the 23-year-old Swiss, who will take part in a super-combined, a super-G and a giant slalom here over the next three days, said.

Carlo Janka and Lindsey Vonn recorded their second World Cup wins in North America in as many days. Swiss Janka’s outstanding season continued with victory in the men’s downhill at Beaver Creek following his triumph in Friday’s Super Combined.

Switzerland’s Carlo Janka won the men’s super combined, pipping compatriot Didier Defago to first place in Beaver Creek. The 23-year-old Janka, who skied with great fluidity in bitter conditions, is generating plenty of pre-Olympic excitement on the circuit with his victory his third podium finish, in three different disciplines, in four races this season.

American Lindsey Vonn continued to reign supreme in the Canadian Rockies by rocketing to her sixth World Cup downhill win in as many years at Lake Louise. Charging through a steady snowfall that forced officials to lower the start, Vonn clocked one minute 26.13 seconds and crossed the line more than half a second clear of her nearest challenger, Emily Brydon of Canada. German Maria Riesch was third.