German Riesch wins slalom for 2nd gold

Last Updated: Friday, February 26, 2010 | 6:58 PM ET

CBC Sports

Germany's Maria Riesch added gold in the slalom to her win in the super-combi. (Geno Breloer/Associated Press)

Maria Riesch of Germany led throughout the Olympic slalom competition at snowy Whistler Creekside, earning her second gold medal of the Games.

Riesch finished in a combined two-run time of one minute 42,89 seconds at Whistler Creekside, slightly extending the lead she held after the first run.

Marlies Schild of Austria captured silver on Friday, 43-100ths of a second behind the pace. Schild now has three career medals after winning silver in the super-combined and bronze in the slalom at the 2006 Torino Games.

Schild skied before Riesch, putting the pressure on.

"I heard the Austrian coaches celebrating behind me, so I knew I really needed to attack. Otherwise, you get silver," Riesch said. "It worked perfectly."

After a disappointing eighth in the downhill, the first women's event at Whistler, Riesch rebounded to take the super-combined last week.

Sarka Zahrobska of the Czech Republic took bronze, 1.01 seconds back.

The same three women were the leaders after the first run, although Schild moved up a spot on Zahrobska with the fastest second run of any competitor, 51.96 seconds.

Susanne Riesch had a chance to join her older sister on the podium after finishing fourth in the first run, but she hit a gate in the second run to crash out.

"Fortunately, I didn't get [that news] at the start," said Maria Riesch. "That would have not been good for me, for sure."

Siblings had not reached the Olympic podium together since Phil and Steve Mahre of the United States in 1984.

Canada had three skiers in the top 20.

Vonn ends Olympics with a crash

Three of the four Canadian entries qualified for the final run later Friday by finishing in the top 30. Brigitte Acton of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., was 17th, 3.04 seconds behind, while Anna Goodman of Pointe Claire, Que., was 19th and 19-year-old Erin Mielzynski of Guelph, Ont., was 20th.

Acton fell back after being 11th in the first run.

She said the falling snow made her second run difficult.

"I'm not that happy with my second run," she said. "It looks like a lot of us had the same kind of trouble throughout it.

"The conditions are tough. Everything is sticking to your goggles. It's like that for everybody. That's ski racing. Those are the variables and conditions you go through."

Goodman was skiing with a brace to protect a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee suffered earlier this year. She was better on her second try Friday, finishing with the 10th fastest time of all competitors in the run.

"It's not how it would have been if I had an ACL, but I'm still happy with how it turned out," she said. "I think all my hard work paid off.

"I didn't think I would even be here, so for that it's worth it."

Marie-Michele Gagnon of Lac-Etchemin, Que., finished 31st.

Lindsey Vonn of the United States went into a gate on the first run to end her Olympics.

Vonn won gold in the downhill and bronze in the super-G, but crashed out in the giant slalom and slalom and fell while leading the super-combined. She came into the Games with a bad shin injury and proceeded to break her pinkie in the giant slalom crash.

Maria Pietilae-Holmner of Sweden was fourth, 32-100ths of a second out of the medals, Sandrine Aubert of France was fifth and Finland's Tanja Poutiainen sixth.

Paerson loses record medal chance

Defending champion Anja Paerson of Sweden could not complete the second run. Paerson overcame a nasty crash in the downhill earlier in the Games to win bronze in the super-combined.

Paerson was just 20th after the first run, giving her no chance to earn a record seventh Olympic medal for a female alpine skier.

Austria's Elisabeth Goergl, who has two bronze at these Games, had the second fastest final run behind compatriot Schild but had too much ground to make up. Goergl vaulted from 22nd to ninth.

The race ended the women's competition in Vancouver.

Riesch's compatriot Viktoria Rebensburg won the giant slalom, giving Germany three of the five win. Vonn took the downhill, with Andrea Fischbacher of Austria the super-G victor.

Austria and the United States each won four women's medals, Germany won three, Slovenia took two, with Sweden and the Czech Republic each winning a medal.