Goetschl wins combined

France's Pequegnot wins women's World Cup slalom

SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria (AP) -- Laure Pequegnot of France put in a near perfect second leg to take a women's World cup slalom on Sunday.

Pequegnot finished in a combined time of 1:27.22 to knock Sonja Nef of Switzerland down to second place.

"Before the race I was not convinced that I could do well because the course was not very demanding," Pequegnot said, adding that she usually responds better to a tougher challenge.

This is the third time in three consecutive slalom races that Pequegnot has made the podium. She took a second and third in two races in Maribor and won the season's opener at Copper Mountain.

Pequegnot, who has been racing since 1994 said she now has the maturity to overcome mental blocks.

"My trainer has helped me a lot with this and now that I am more mature, I can get things into perspective," the 27-year-old said.

Nef, the popular Swiss racer, clocked 1:28.80 for the two legs.

"I tend to go to sleep a little in the first run," Nef said. "I have to change that. The competition is very tough and you can't win races unless you give everything in both runs."

Third place went to Ylva Nowen of Sweden, .67 seconds off the pace.

Two Americans, Kristina Koznick and Sarah Schleper came in fourth and fifth.

The first leg leader, 21-year-old Tanja Poutianen, failed to finish the second leg depriving herself and Finland of their first World Cup victory. A second place in Sestriere, Italy in early January was her best career placing so far.

Austria's Renate Goetschl won the combined, which matched times from Saturday's downhill with those of the Sunday's slalom.

Janica Kostelic of Croatia was second and Austria's Michaela Dorfmeister was third.

Kostelic, currently suffering from back pain, crumpled in a tearful heap after the race. She was 18th in the slalom and 22nd in Saturday's downhill.

"It means a lot to me," said Goetschl of her 20th World Cup win. "I am improving and skiing is fun again. When you're having fun, then you get good results," the veteran added.

The combined, a paper event only, carries equal World Cup points to a normal race.

Anja Paerson, who was leading the slalom standings prior to Sunday, failed to finish the first leg after a classic inner ski mistake around a gate going into the steep section of the course.

"I gave it everything and I was on the limit," Sweden's Paerson said. "But there was some hard snow in the steep part and that's where I slipped up."

With Paerson's failure to finish the race, Pequegnot now takes the lead in the slalom season standings with 412 points, a narrow 12 points advantage over the Swede, who has four wins to her credit this season.

Koznick is in third place with 318 points.

Paerson still leads the overall standings with 609 points. Dorfmeister is now in second place, just one point behind and Nef is close behind with 601 points.

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