Skiing: Triple cheer for Alphand

Luc Alphand accomplished what he set out to do yesterday, winning one World Cup title and tightening his grip on two others.

With bad weather at Kvitfjell, Norway, forcing officials to run a rescheduled downhill in the morning and a super-giant slalom in the afternoon, it was a busy and productive 12 hours for the 31-year-old Frenchman.

Alphand began the day by sealing his third consecutive downhill World Cup title after finishing fifth behind the Norwegian winner, Lasse Kjus.

A few hours later Alphand finished joint fourth with Austria's Hermann Maier in the super-G to keep a 69-point lead in the rankings with only one race remaining. The two results combined to leave him 193 points clear of Norway's Kjetil Andre Aamodt in the battle for the overall title.