Rebensburg wins World Cup giant slalom

Germany's Olympic and World Cup champion Viktoria Rebensburg confirmed her giant slalom dominance on Saturday with a women's alpine World Cup victory. Rebensburg, fifth after the first leg after an error early in her run, delivered a flawless second leg to erase a deficit of a nearly a second and seize the victory ahead of first-leg leader Elisabeth Goergl of Austria. Goergl finished 33-hundredths back while American Julia Mancuso was third, 44-hundredths behind. "I never would have thought I would win after my huge mistake at the start of the first leg," Rebensburg admitted, but said the fact that she was still fifth after that error gave her confidence she could gain ground with a solid second run. "I knew I had to push the limit," she said. "I really pushed." Rebensburg and Goergl claimed podium finishes for the second time in as many giant slaloms this season. The German was second and the Austrian third behind American Lindsey Vonn in the opening giant of the season at Solden in October. Rebensburg's victory came a year after she finished second by just one-hundredth of a second to France's Tessa Worley on the Aspen course. She moved to the top of the giant slalom standings and the overall standings ahead of Goergl. Vonn, who was a disappointing 21st after the first leg, charged back on the second leg to finish 12th. The American, who has never finished on the podium at Aspen in 18 starts, arrived in Colorado brimming with confidence after her victory at Solden, but tweaked her back in training. She was more than two seconds off the pace after the first run, and admitted she didn't find a groove. "I’m trying to pretend like I feel OK," Vonn said after the first run. "I was a little too nervous today. I just wasn’t really myself. Just never really found a good rhythm on the course." Still, Vonn's finish was good enough to keep her in third place in the standings, giving her an early jump on reigning overall World Cup holder Maria Hoefl-Riesch, who skied off the course and failed to finish the second leg.