GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, GERMANY — Olympic champion Maria Riesch of Germany won her second straight slalom World Cup title with a third-place finish in the final race of the season Saturday.
Marlies Schild of Austria won the race by a big margin, with teammate Kathrin Zettel placing second. But Riesch’s third place was enough to give her the slalom title with 493 points, just three ahead of Zettel.
“It was not a very good day on the slope for me,” Riesch said. “The first run was not good at all, and in the second, I never managed to release the hand brake. I was really very, very lucky to get the title.”
Riesch, who won the combined gold medal at the Olympics, could have lost the title if Zettel had won.
Schild, the Olympic silver medalist, had a comfortable lead after the first run and increased it to a massive 1.20 seconds over Zettel. Schild clocked an aggregate time of 1:49.57. Riesch was 1.90 seconds behind in third.
Schild, who won the slalom titles in 2007 and 2008, missed the entire last season after breaking her left leg in a training run crash.
Herbst win slalom title.
Reinfried Herbst gave Austria its only men’s title of the season, clinching the slalom title in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Ted Ligety of the United States, who clinched the giant slalom title Friday, clipped the first gate of the second run and dropped out.
Felix Neureuther delighted a hometown crowd by winning the race. Manfred Pranger of Austria finished second.
