Italy's Sofia Goggia and Switzerland's Beat Feuz took the World Cup downhill globes on Wednesday, as bad weather cancelled the discipline's last races of the season, preventing the two leaders' closest rivals from catching up with them.

This is now a second downhill globe for 28-year-old Goggia, made all the more impressive by the fact that she hasn't taken part in any races since late January, when she suffered a knee injury that threatened to rule her out for the rest of the season.

For Feuz, it's a fourth downhill globe in a row, confirming him as the current uncontested downhill king.

World Cup finals week was due to begin in earnest in the Swiss resort of Lenzerheide on Wednesday with the men's and women's downhill races. But after training sessions on Monday and Tuesday were already cancelled due to bad weather, Wednesday's events also fell victim to heavy snowfall and strong winds.

"Due to the present weather situation the jury, the OC (organizing committee), Swiss-Ski, and all stakeholders decided to cancel today's Men's and Women's Downhill at @ArosaLenzerheid," the International Ski Federation (FIS) announced on Twitter. 

"According to World Cup Rules, the races will not be rescheduled. Globes will be awarded today!" it added.

With five podiums in seven races this season, including two wins, Feuz ends the season with 486 points. His closest challenger, Austria's Matthias Mayer, was 68 points behind him and hoped to make this up in Lenzerheide but will have to settle for a thankless second place with no trophy.

The crystal globe caps a season in which Feuz also won downhill bronze at world championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. His tally over the past four seasons includes an impressive 25 podiums in 33 races.

For Goggia, the season was going swimmingly until she suffered a compound fracture in her right knee in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in late January. Her dominant performance up until then, four straight wins and one second place, ensured she remained in the lead in the downhill standings with 480 points. But an in-form Lara Gut-Behrami threatened to crash the party as the season wore on.

Unwilling to let the globe slip away, Goggia made the surprise announcement over the weekend that she would take part in the downhill in Lenzerheide, just a month and a half after her injury.

With both Gut-Behrami and her Swiss compatriot Corinne Suter within 100 points of Goggia and all three racers capable of lifting the season's trophy, the last downhill race of the season promised to be a thrilling show.

But in the end, Goggia was spared one last test and takes home her second downhill globe after 2018 to add to Olympic gold in Pyeongchang.

"To have done the impossible to be here 45 days (after my injury) makes me proud," Goggia said of her swift recovery.

Wednesday's cancellation means one less opportunity for Gut-Behrami to make up points in the overall standings, where she is trailing Slovakia's Petra Vlhova by 96 points, and could also prove crucial on the men's side for France's Alexis Pinturault, who is battling to maintain his lead over Switzerland's Marco Odermatt.

Thursday is due to see the men's and women's super-G races if all goes well.

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