The Germans added the final kiss to the World Cup season by topping a surprisingly fast Italian team in Lenzerheide, Switzerland today (March 20). Austria got third by stopping the homestanding Swiss in the “small” final. The Czech Republic, France, Sweden and Canada tied for fifth. The U.S. did not enter a team.

The Germans were powered by GS title winner Viktoria Rebensburg, the Riesch sisters Maria and Susanne, Fritz Dopfer, Stephen Keppler and Felix Neureuther. Italy had countered with Federica Brignone, Giulia Gianesini, Denise Karbon, Cristian Deville, Manfred Moelgg and Giuliano Razzoli.

Czech Ondrej Bank put down the fastest men’s time of the day clocking 30.60 seconds with both Neureuther and Austrian Romed Baumann within a tenth of his time. Freshly crowned overall champion Maria Riesch posted the fastest women’s time at 31.25 with Karbon close behind (31.31) and Austrian World Champion Elisabeth Goergl third at 31.56.

Counting only for Nations Cup points, the race had little effect on the final standings. The Germans gained 400 points but did not move past the U.S. and finished up ranked sixth with a 4680 total. The U.S. closed the season in fifth with 4931pts. Italy gained 320pts to finish third ahead of France 5488-5119. The Swiss finished second with a total of 6576 and Austria won the Nations Cup for the 21st consecutive time with 10,644pts.