ALPINE SKIING, WORLD CUP. Slovenia's Tina Maze reached her main goal at Garmisch-Partenkirchen winning the giant slalom race of the 2010 World Cup Finals, celebrating her first season win - her ninth on the World Cup tour in her outstanding career. The double silver medalist from Vancouver beat by 3/100 of a second Germany's Kathrin Hoelzl, the new giant slalom World Cup champion, while Maria Riesch came in 3rd ahead of the new Olympic Champion Viktoria Rebensburg.

Tina Maze of Slovenia takes 1st place during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women's Giant Slalom on March 11, 2010 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. (March 10, 2010 - Photo by Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom/Getty Images Europe)

The double Olympic champion regained some ground in the Overall standings of her friend Lindsey Vonn who sustained a bad crash in the first run. The skier from Vail suffered another bone bruise at her knee yet she plans to compete in Friday's Super-G. Her advance in the Overall standings went down from 225 to 165 with two more races to go, which means that Maria has to finish at least 2nd tomorrow in the Super-G and hope that Lindsey doesn't score any to have a real chance to keep on fighting for the big globe until Saturday's slalom.

Maze was aiming for more.

Maze, who turns 27 in May, was not fully satisfied with her season despite reaching several podiums in past months, including in slalom. "I definitely want to win a race before the end of the season," she said last week at Crans-Montana after getting another top-10 result under her belt in Super-G.

Yet her latest victory was far from being easy! A few minutes prior the start of her second run, Tina injured herself, pulling a muscle at her back. She had to ski with strong pains yet she still managed to be faster than Hoelzl, the fastest in the first run, who was also fighting for her win in the specialty standings.

"It was very difficult, really painful and I wonder how I could handle it and win that race," she said with a grin. "It's too bad that I can fully appreciate that success, but the pain is just too strong right now," she added.

With that outstanding result - she finished ahead of three very motivated German skiers - Maze moved up in 4th place in the Overall standings and improved her record of points. She scored a total of 863 points so far - 11 more than last winter - and hopes to be able to increase that total in the coming days.

"I hope now to be able to compete in the last races here, I also wish to have a chance to check the slopes of the next World Championships," also commented the silver medalist from Val d'Isère who aims now to capture her first international title. At Whistler Mountain, she failed to get Olympic gold in giant slalom by only a few hundredths!

"It has been a very long and demanding season, it's tough to compete in all disciplines, you have to work very very hard," also said the Slovenian who has been training outside the National Ski Team for two years within her own group.

The title goes to Kathrin Hoelzl.

Kathrin Hoelzl, a two-time winner this season after capturing an expected gold medal at Val d'Isère last year, was very pleased with her strong season finish which helped her to secure her first Crystal Globe.

"For sure I would have enjoyed also winning that race in front of my friends and fans, but that 2nd place is great too," she said after her run. "I struggled in the upper part of the second run and I hard to fight hard at the bottom to get onto the podium," she added. "It was not easy, you feel some pressure as at medal events. I'm glad I could handle it so well today which was not the case last month at Vancouver. I was hoping for more than just a 6th place there but that's the way it goes. I already have a gold medal and this cup also means a lot to me. It proves that I have been strong and consistent during the entire season and it confirms my victory at Val d'Isère. Our team is really strong in the technical events this winter and we are looking for more success later on this week - and of course also next season."

Another podium finish for Maria Riesch.

Maria Riesch was pretty excited too with her second podium finish in the specialty after Maribor. "It's really cool to get another podium finish today after my win from yesterday, I wanted to do well again in giant slalom after trying hard for so many years," the skier from Garmisch-Partenkirchen told the press.

"I feel pretty good in training but so far I had a hard time finding the best rhythm also on race days," she also explained. "I was so happy with my performance at Maribor two months ago but I wanted to do it again. What a better place than to do it here in front of that great crowd the day my teammate also gets the Crystal Globe."

The double Olympic champion has been the only skier this winter able to reach the podium in all disciplines. She is pretty proud about it. "My season has been awesome, I have done so well, now I just need to get that slalom title to be perfectly happy," she added. "I'm sorry for Lindsey that she crashed again, I hope she is fine. It doesn't change my plans for the next races. I'll try to ski as well as I can and do my best to reach more podiums. There is still a big gap between Lindsey and me."

In fact, another podium finish in Friday's Super-G race would be enough for Vonn to remain out of reach of her friend prior Saturday's slalom.

PkL
FISalpine.com
11 March 2010

Kathrin Hoelzl of Germany takes 2nd place during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women's Giant Slalom on March 11, 2010 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. (March 10, 2010 - Photo by Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom/Getty Images Europe)

Maria Riesch of Germany takes 3rd place during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women's Giant Slalom on March 11, 2010 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. (March 10, 2010 - Photo by Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom/Getty Images Europe)

Tina Maze of Slovenia takes 1st place during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women's Giant Slalom on March 11, 2010 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. (March 10, 2010 - Photo by Alain Grosclaude/Agence Zoom/Getty Images Europe)

Kathrin Hoelzl of Germany takes the globe for the overall World Cup Giant slalom during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women's Giant Slalom on March 11, 2010 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. (March 10, 2010 - Photo by Alain Grosclaude/Agence Zoom/Getty Images Europe)