Germany's Hoefl-Riesch wins slalom

Germany's Maria Hoefl-Riesch won the women's alpine skiing World Cup slalom race here on Saturday, with a knife-edge lead of 00.01secs over Slovakia's Veronika Zuzulova. Canada's Marie-Michele Gagnon was third, 00.11secs back, in her first-ever podium finish. The taste of victory was sweet for Olympic champion Hoefl-Riesch -- who also topped last season's overall World Cup standings -- as she had not won in the slalom since January 2011 and crashed out last week in Ofterschwang, Germany. "I was looking for a podium today and I had nothing to lose, no globe to win, just points to score for next season," Hoefl-Riesch said. She had placed third in the first leg, behind Zuzulova and world champion Marlies Schild of Austria. Schild, who has already secured the slalom title after dominating throughout the season, came in sixth in Saturday's second leg, 00.29secs back. Schild noted that she had struggled on the piste from the very start. "I must improve in these conditions," she said. Lindsey Vonn of the United States failed to complete the second leg after falling. On Friday, Vonn clinched the fourth overall women's alpine skiing World Cup title of her career after winning the giant slalom here. Gagnon's third place was her team's second success in a row after team-mate Erin Mielzynski last week won in Ofterschwang, becoming the first Canadian in 40 years to do so in the discipline. But Canada's ski team was not celebrating on Saturday, as it reeled from the death of Nick Zoricic in a ski cross World Cup event in Grindelwald earlier in the day.