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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted at 5:25 a.m., Sunday, December 28, 2008

Skiing: Zettel wins women's World Cup giant slalom

By ERIC WILLEMSEN
Associated Press Writer

SEMMERING, Austria — Kathrin Zettel of Austria won a women's World Cup giant slalom today for her second title of the season and Lindsey Vonn of the United States finished eighth to remain atop the overall standings.

Zettel finished in a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 10.90 seconds to beat Italy's Manuela Moelgg by 0.37 seconds.

"This is an incredible feeling," Zettel said. "Winning in front of a home crowd really means a lot to me."

Two mistakes in her second run cost Vonn considerable time.

"This is a super result for me," she said. "The slope was quite fast in the middle part but I did not adjust my skis correctly."

Vonn has 470 points, Tanja Poutiainen of Finland is second with 418, and Maria Riesch of Germany third with 407.

Olympic champion Julia Mancuso of Olympic Valley, Calif., was the fastest American in sixth, trailing Zettel by 1.27 seconds.

"The second run could have been better but I am excited," said Mancuso, who missed a lot of training in the fall due to a sore back and used the Christmas break for some additional training.

"My body feels good. And I switched back to my old boots, which I am more comfortable in," she said. "I am gaining confidence and feel like getting back to my old form."

Zettel also won the season-opening giant slalom in Soelden, Austria in October and won the previous GS in Semmering in 2006.

Moelgg led after the first run but had to settle for second for the fourth time this year.

"I lost too much speed in the upper part (of the second run)," said Moelgg, who was 14th fastest in the second run. "But I am glad with the result anyway."

Switzerland's Lara Gut was 13th after the opening run but posted the fastest time in the final leg to finish third, trailing Zettel by 0.55 seconds.

"I didn't find the right line in the first run," said the 17-year-old Gut, who won her first World Cup title in her native St. Moritz last week. "I knew exactly what I had to do better in the second. It worked out really great."

Nicole Hosp of Austria was third going into the second run and posted the fastest intermediate time, but crashed after losing a ski on the steep part of the Panorama course.

World champion Anja Paerson of Sweden missed out on a podium finish and took fourth after skiing off course in her second run, while Denise Karbon, who won five out of seven giant slaloms last season, came in fifth.

A slalom is scheduled for Monday.