Rebensburg takes giant slalom cup lead
March 12, 2011 - 0:0
Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg won an Alpine ski giant slalom race on Friday to take the World Cup lead in the discipline.
Rebensburg mastered the gates of the Black Course in a combined time of two minutes 15.22 seconds, with a commanding lead of 1.26 seconds over Italy's Denise Karbon.Lindsey Vonn, who has already wrapped up three of the World Cup titles this season, took the first giant slalom podium place of her senior career with third, 1.45 seconds behind Rebensburg.
Tessa Worley of France, the World Cup leader going into the weekend, failed to finish the first leg and now trails the German by 77 points with one giant slalom remaining, next weekend in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
""I have now won three downhills this season; it bodes well for next week,"" said Rebensburg. ""But I must not start calculating now; I just need to stay focused.
""In the second run, I have no idea what happened. I just skied like I know how and it worked.
With her surprise third-place finish, Vonn edged closer to the top of the overall standings as leader Maria Riesch of Germany finished in 29th place, 6.43 seconds behind Rebensburg, after a big technical error in the second leg.
Vonn, who was eighth after the first leg, said: ""It's crazy. After the first leg, I thought maybe I could finish in the top 10, but the top? It's unreal. Now I know that when you face a challenge, you have to believe until the last minute. It's a good lesson.""
With five races to go, Riesch's lead has been cut to 38 points.
""I'm very disappointed obviously. I was expecting something else,"" Riesch said.
(Source: Reuters)