Italian ski star Dominik Paris shines in tight World Cup super-G for second win in three days

KVITFJELL, Norway (AP) — After just one World Cup race win in three years for Dominik Paris, the Italian star made it two in three days Sunday.

Paris was the only racer to break clear in a super-G of tight margins, on a course shortened by fog on the mountain, and added to his downhill victory Friday.

Take Paris out of Sunday’s race and the top 30 including six of the United States team all would have been within one second and James Crawford, the 2023 world champion from Canada, would have won.

Paris was there, however, as the standout racer 0.38 faster than Crawford and 0.47 clear of third-placed Miha Hrobat.

“The feeling was amazing," the 35-year-old Paris said. "Seeing the green light in the finish, that’s nice.”

The German-speaking Italian with the French-sounding family name is most at home on the Norwegian slope that staged the 1994 Olympics races.

He now has six of his 24 career World Cup wins at Kvitfjell, where he also completed a weekend double in downhill and super-G in 2019, and won a downhill in March 2022.

“It’s a good hill for me but I didn’t know it was like this. It’s more than I expected,” Paris said.

That 2019 season was a career peak for Paris. He won a career-best seven World Cup races, plus his only gold medal — in super-G at the 2019 worlds — and his only World Cup crystal trophy, for the season-long super-G title. That success came after spending the summer recording an album as a singer in a heavy metal band, Rise of Voltage.

Marco Odermatt placed fourth, 0.01 behind Hrobat, though his season-long super-G title was confirmed in midweek when his closest challenger, Paris’s teammate Mattia Casse, was injured crashing in a training run for the downhill.

It was the first time in 17 men's speed races this season, in the World Cup or world championships, that no Swiss skier was on the podium.

“It’s quite an achievement, I think. They are really, really good this year,” said Hrobat, who twice was third in downhills when beaten by two Swiss racers.

Odermatt earned 50 race points Sunday and has an unbeatable lead of 210 in the super-G standings before the last race March 23 at Sun Valley, Idaho. It is his third straight super-G title.

The Swiss superstar's fourth straight overall World Cup title also is assured with a 570-point lead over Henrik Kristoffersen and just six races left. Though 600 points can be won, Kristoffersen does not race in downhill or super-G.

Kristoffersen will be favored to pick up points next weekend when the men’s World Cup circuit stays in Norway for a giant slalom and slalom at nearby Hafjell.

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing

Second placed Canada's James Crawford, celebrates with the team after an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Kvitfjell, Norway, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Third placed Slovenia's Miha Hrobat celebrates after an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Kvitfjell, Norway, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

The winner Italy's Dominik Paris celebrates after an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Kvitfjell, Norway, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

The winner Italy's Dominik Paris celebrates after an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Kvitfjell, Norway, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Switzerland's Marco Odermatt speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup super G race, in Kvitfjell, Norway, Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Slovenia's Miha Hrobat reacts after completing an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Kvitfjell, Norway, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Canada's James Crawford reacts after completing an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Kvitfjell, Norway, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Italy's Dominik Paris reacts after completing an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Kvitfjell, Norway, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Canada's James Crawford speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup super G race, in Kvitfjell, Norway, Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Switzerland's Marco Odermatt reacts after completing an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Kvitfjell, Norway, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Italy's Dominik Paris speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup super G race, in Kvitfjell, Norway, Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Italy's Dominik Paris reacts after completing an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Kvitfjell, Norway, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

NEW YORK (AP) — Reviving a campaign pledge, President Donald Trump wants a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates, a move that could save Americans tens of billions of dollars but drew immediate opposition from an industry that has been in his corner.

Trump was not clear in his social media post Friday night whether a cap might take effect through executive action or legislation, though one Republican senator said he had spoken with the president and would work on a bill with his “full support.” Trump said he hoped it would be in place Jan. 20, one year after he took office.

Strong opposition is certain from Wall Street in addition to the credit card companies, which donated heavily to his 2024 campaign and have supported Trump's second-term agenda. Banks are making the argument that such a plan would most hurt poor people, at a time of economic concern, by curtailing or eliminating credit lines, driving them to high-cost alternatives like payday loans or pawnshops.

“We will no longer let the American Public be ripped off by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Researchers who studied Trump’s campaign pledge after it was first announced found that Americans would save roughly $100 billion in interest a year if credit card rates were capped at 10%. The same researchers found that while the credit card industry would take a major hit, it would still be profitable, although credit card rewards and other perks might be scaled back.

About 195 million people in the United States had credit cards in 2024 and were assessed $160 billion in interest charges, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says. Americans are now carrying more credit card debt than ever, to the tune of about $1.23 trillion, according to figures from the New York Federal Reserve for the third quarter last year.

Further, Americans are paying, on average, between 19.65% and 21.5% in interest on credit cards according to the Federal Reserve and other industry tracking sources. That has come down in the past year as the central bank lowered benchmark rates, but is near the highs since federal regulators started tracking credit card rates in the mid-1990s. That’s significantly higher than a decade ago, when the average credit card interest rate was roughly 12%.

The Republican administration has proved particularly friendly until now to the credit card industry.

Capital One got little resistance from the White House when it finalized its purchase and merger with Discover Financial in early 2025, a deal that created the nation’s largest credit card company. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is largely tasked with going after credit card companies for alleged wrongdoing, has been largely nonfunctional since Trump took office.

In a joint statement, the banking industry was opposed to Trump's proposal.

“If enacted, this cap would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives," the American Bankers Association and allied groups said.

Bank lobbyists have long argued that lowering interest rates on their credit card products would require the banks to lend less to high-risk borrowers. When Congress enacted a cap on the fee that stores pay large banks when customers use a debit card, banks responded by removing all rewards and perks from those cards. Debit card rewards only recently have trickled back into consumers' hands. For example, United Airlines now has a debit card that gives miles with purchases.

The U.S. already places interest rate caps on some financial products and for some demographics. The Military Lending Act makes it illegal to charge active-duty service members more than 36% for any financial product. The national regulator for credit unions has capped interest rates on credit union credit cards at 18%.

Credit card companies earn three streams of revenue from their products: fees charged to merchants, fees charged to customers and the interest charged on balances. The argument from some researchers and left-leaning policymakers is that the banks earn enough revenue from merchants to keep them profitable if interest rates were capped.

"A 10% credit card interest cap would save Americans $100 billion a year without causing massive account closures, as banks claim. That’s because the few large banks that dominate the credit card market are making absolutely massive profits on customers at all income levels," said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, who wrote the research on the industry's impact of Trump's proposal last year.

There are some historic examples that interest rate caps do cut off the less creditworthy to financial products because banks are not able to price risk correctly. Arkansas has a strictly enforced interest rate cap of 17% and evidence points to the poor and less creditworthy being cut out of consumer credit markets in the state. Shearer's research showed that an interest rate cap of 10% would likely result in banks lending less to those with credit scores below 600.

The White House did not respond to questions about how the president seeks to cap the rate or whether he has spoken with credit card companies about the idea.

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who said he talked with Trump on Friday night, said the effort is meant to “lower costs for American families and to reign in greedy credit card companies who have been ripping off hardworking Americans for too long."

Legislation in both the House and the Senate would do what Trump is seeking.

Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., released a plan in February that would immediately cap interest rates at 10% for five years, hoping to use Trump’s campaign promise to build momentum for their measure.

Hours before Trump's post, Sanders said that the president, rather than working to cap interest rates, had taken steps to deregulate big banks that allowed them to charge much higher credit card fees.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have proposed similar legislation. Ocasio-Cortez is a frequent political target of Trump, while Luna is a close ally of the president.

Seung Min Kim reported from West Palm Beach, Fla.

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, Jan. 9, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

FILE - Visa and Mastercard credit cards are shown in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Feb. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)