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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 4:45 a.m., Sunday, January 11, 2009

Skiing: Riesch wins fourth straight World Cup slalom

Associated Press

MARIBOR, Slovenia — Maria Riesch of Germany captured her fourth straight World Cup slalom on Sunday, winning by more than a second to move within one victory of tying the record for consecutive discipline wins.

Riesch held a commanding lead after the opening run and easily held off her challengers in the second to finish in a combined time of 1 minute, 29.64 seconds.

Kathrin Zettel of Austria was next, 1.15 seconds behind, while Finland's Tanja Poutiainen was third, 1.77 back.

Anja Paerson won five consecutive World Cup giant slalom races in 2004.

Defending overall champion Lindsey Vonn used a blistering second run to climb from 18th to a tie for fourth with Paerson. Vonn had the fastest second leg — 0.29 quicker than Zettel — but finished 2.04 behind Riesch.