Hutter wins at Lake Louise as Vonn crashes out

Austria's Cornelia Hutter swept to victory in the women's downhill at the Lake Louise World Cup event on Friday as favourite Lindsey Vonn crashed out.

Hutter, 25, claimed only her second World Cup win with a time of 1min 48.53sec to pip Liechtenstein's Tina Weirather in second and US star Mikaela Shiffrin in third.

But the race was overshadowed by the spectacular fall which ended American ski queen Vonn's challenge.

The 33-year-old Olympic gold medallist -- whose 18 wins at Lake Louise include 14 downhill victories -- had looked to be on course for another victory as she posted the best time heading into the final curve.

However she lost balance when her skis appeared to touch and her right leg buckled before she hurtled into the safety nets.

Vonn, who has suffered a litany of serious knee and leg injuries over the years, initially appeared to be motionless as officials worked to extricate her from the nets.

However she eventually got to her feet unsteadily and was able to return to the finish area on her skis.

Vonn, who has 77 World Cup victories, is scheduled to race again on Saturday with a super-G scheduled for Sunday.

Meanwhile her compatriot Shiffrin consolidated her first place in the overall standings which she leads with 365 points from Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg, 236 points.