Lindsey Vonn joined Picabo Street yesterday as the only Americans to win two consecutive World Cup downhill championships. The 24-year-old Vonn clinched her second title in a row by finishing 12th at a race in Bansko, Bulgaria to match the feat first achieved by Street in 1995 and 1996.

"It's so cool to join Picabo as the only American to win the downhill title twice." Vonn said. "It really doesn't seem like all that long ago when I met her at a poster signing in Minnesota and since then I've always looked up to her."

Vonn was well down the field, but her time of 1 minute, 48 seconds was enough to win her the title with only one downhill remaining on the circuit.

"It took a little longer to clinch it this year, but I'm still really happy -- this is a huge accomplishment," she said. "It's never easy to win a World Cup title and it's even harder to defend one."

Vonn also made history earlier this month by winning the 19th World Cup race of her career to move past Tamara McKinney for the U.S. women's record.

A course set by his own coach and soft snow helped Ted Ligety become the first American to win a race on the men's World Cup circuit this season. Ligety won a giant slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, for his fourth career victory. He finished in a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 19.92 seconds to beat Didier Cuche of Switzerland by 0.19 seconds.

• Steven Holcomb, seeking to break a 50-year gold-medal drought for the U.S. bobsled team in four-man competition at the world championships, laid down a pair of solid runs in USA-1 at Lake Placid, N.Y., to take a commanding lead midway through the last major race before the 2010 Winter Olympics. The team finished the two runs at Mount Van Hoevenberg in 1 minute, 48.53 seconds.

• Bill Demong earned his first world title, winning gold in the Nordic combined large hill event in Liberec, Czech Republic. Demong erased a 52-second deficit, finishing in 23 minutes, 36.6 seconds.

• Debbie McCormick's squad slid and swept their way to a win in the finals of the U.S. Olympic curling trials in Broomfield, Colo., to become the first American athletes to secure spots for the 2010 Vancouver Games.

Van Pelt stayed out of trouble the rest of the day, shooting a 3-under 67 to catch Mark Wilson for the lead at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico. Wilson shot a 69, leaving both at 11-under 199 through three rounds of the PGA Tour's annual stop south of the border.

Novak Djokovic won his first title of the season by beating David Ferrer of Spain, 7-5, 6-3, in the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships in the United Arab Emirates.

Amy Acuff, who will retire after the World Outdoor Championships in Berlin, won the women's high jump in Boston at the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships for the fifth time.

Third after the short program, Russian Alena Leonova turned in a dynamic free skate to "La Leyenda del Beso" to overtake Elene Gedevanishvili of Georgia and Ashley Wagner of the United States, who dropped to the bronze at the world junior figure skating championships, in Sofia, Bulgaria.