Riesch beats Vonn to Super-Combined gold in Tarvisio

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Posted: Friday 20th February 2009 | 16:54

GERMANY'S Maria Riesch has exacted revenge over America's Lindsey Vonn, by claiming World Cup Super-Combined gold in Tarvisio, Italy.

SWEET REVENGE: Germany's Riesch takes Super-Combined gold in Italy (Getty Images)

Riesch, who claimed world slalom gold in Val d'Isere earlier this month, was overshadowed by her American rival in the French Alps, as Vonn picked up two gold medals.

Vonn also leads the women's overall rankings, ahead of Riesch, and the newly-crowned double world champion led after the downhill section in Tarvisio, but the 24-year-old Bavarian roared back to take gold.

The American was competing in only her second race since her freak accident at the World Championships, where she injured her thumb on a champagne bottle.

And Sweden's Anja Paerson, who left Val d'Isere empty-handed, came fifth - good enough to secure the overall Super-Combined crown.

Vonn was in command after the downhill section, clocking 1:31.22 minutes - 0.76 ahead of Riesch.

But Riesch produced the perfect slalom run to post 46.59 seconds and take the gold by 0.49 secs, ahead of Vonn.

Austria's Kathrin Zettel, the Super-Combined world champion, was third 2.03 seconds off the pace after finishing the morning downhill's run in 23rd position.

Great Britain's Chemmy Alcott claimed her best World Cup finish since October, coming 12th - her second best-ever Super-Combined finish.

"It's great to be back in Tarvisio, I've had good results here before," she said.

"The downhill here is a course you can't make any mistakes on, and I made a couple and that is where I lost some time. However, this gave me a good start position for the slalom and I felt like I really used this, I really enjoyed the race."