Courchevel, France –  Tina Maze of Slovenia continued her dominance of the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup this season, winning her fourth straight giant slalom in Courchevel on Sunday, the first to be held in France in a decade ahead of Kathrin Zettel of Austria, who herself has come in second three times in a row.

Snow ended and skies even partially cleared before the first starter left the gate in Courchevel. With Sunday’s victory Maze, who now leads the World Cup 799-468 over Germany’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch, tied Denise Karbon’s record win streak from the 2007-08 season.

“I guess this season is going to be the records season. But I’m just trying to be simple and enjoy my time on skis and not think of making history here,” asserted Maze, who is also now the first Slovenian skier to win more than four World Cup races in one season. “I’m even amazed myself. I have taken a step forward every year and now I’m leading the overall. I’ve persuaded myself I could do it and worked so hard last summer. Being second wasn’t enough. It’s paying off now and it’s incredible. Keeping this shape over the whole season is my only concern at the moment.”

Julia Mancuso, of Squaw Valley, Calif., and Eagle, Colo.’s Mikaela Shiffrin combined for two top-ten finishes for the U.S. Ski Team, crossing the finish line into Courchevel’s Emile Allais stadiumin sixth and ninth, respectively.

“It’s a step in the right direction for my GS. I was happy to come down second and end up sixth,” said Mancuso. “It’s a pretty tricky course – really turny first run and more difficult than the second run. They had to inject because it snowed meters the week before in order to make sure we had a race they put in a lot of water and it was really rough. After scraping off the snow there was glare ice, but I thought it turned out pretty well. It was a good decision.”

The finish matched Shiffrin’s career best ninth set last month at the Aspen Winternational.

“I knew it was a long shot to get into the top 10. I was more psyched that I made it down and survived the first run,” said Shiffrin. “There were a few places where i thought I was gong to die or give up. I was psyched to get a second run and thought it would be a walk in the park so I wasn’t worried about it.”

Mancuso moved to fifth in the Audi FIS World Cup overall, one spot behind Vail, Colo.’s Lindsey Vonn, who went out in the first run on Sunday.

The World Cup now heads for Are, Sweden with giant slalom and slalom Wednesday and Thursday.

“It should be fun in Sweden. It will be cool to be back to the GS race under the lights as there’s not a lot of sunshine that time of year,” concluded Mancuso.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS World Cup
Courchevel, France – Dec. 16, 2012
Women’s Giant Slalom