Sarka Zahrobska waves to the Aspen crowd after her victory on Sunday. (Emmanuel Dunand/Getty Images)Skier Sarka Zahrobska of the Czech Republic recorded her first international victory since the 2007 world championship on Sunday, taking the World Cup slalom in Aspen, Colo.
Zahrobska fended off some of the best on the World Cup circuit to finish in a combined time of one minute, 39.32 seconds. She recorded the top time in the first run with 48.92 seconds and was second in the final leg.
Zahrobska had three second-place finishes and two thirds in her 114 previous World Cup starts since 2002.
"That's what made it a big day for me," said Zahrobska. "I had finished second a lot. I'm glad to have won."
Nicole Hosp of Austria had the best second run at 50.03, but it wasn't enough to vault her to first overall. She finished in 1:39.55.
Tanja Poutiainen of Finland moved to the top of the overall World Cup standings over Lindsey Vonn, finishing just ahead of the American. Poutiainen clocked in at 1:40.29, with Vonn at 1:40.73.
Kathrin Zettel of Austria was second after the first run, just one-10th of a second behind Zahrobska, but slipped to fifth overall. Among the other notable names, Maria Riesch of Germany was sixth, Manuela Moelgg of Italy ninth and Sweden's Anja Paerson came in 13th.
Anna Goodman of of Pointe-Claire, Que., was 24th in a time of 1:45.11. Brigitte Acton of Calgary was 27th.
Poutiainen leads the overall standing with 260 points, while Vonn has 229. Maria Pietilae-Holmner of Sweden is just ahead of Zettel for third with 196 points. With her win, Zahrobska moved up to fifth place.
The biggest victory for the 23-year-old before Sunday had been a slalom win at the world alpine championship in Are, Sweden, over 18 months ago.
With files from the Associated Press
