LEVI, Finland — Maria Riesch of Germany won the opening women’s World Cup slalom Saturday, edging Vail’s Lindsey Vonn by 0.08 of a second.
Riesch, the defending world slalom champion, finished with a two-run time of 1 minute, 48.71 seconds at the World Cup circuit’s northernmost venue, which is above the Arctic Circle.
Tanja Poutiainen of Finland was 1.16 behind in third place and kept the World Cup overall lead. Poutiainen won the opening giant slalom race of the season last month in Austria.
Vonn is coming off her second consecutive overall title last season, as well as winning the downhill and super-G titles. On Saturday, she barely lost to her good friend Riesch.
“I think I had a pretty solid first run, but in the second run I had some small mistakes,” Vonn said. “Maria definitely had a great run today, and I’m happy that she won. I’m happy with my second place. It was a solid result for me.”
It was Riesch’s 12th career World Cup victory.
Footnotes.
Canada’s Lyndon Rush drove to the gold medal in the opening four-man World Cup bobsled race of the season in Park City, Utah, while the U.S. teams led by Todd Hays and Steven Holcomb finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
• Lee Jung-Su of South Korea beat American Apolo Anton Ohno in the men’s 1,500-meter World Cup short-track speedskating race in Marquette, Mich.
• Sven Kramer of the Netherlands won the 5,000-meter race at a World Cup speed- skating meet in Heerenveen, Netherlands, narrowly extending his two-year unbeaten streak over the distance.
The Associated Press
