Aspen, CO – Tina Maze of Slovenia bested the world’s top female skiers on Saturday, completing the challenging giant slalom course down Aspen Mountain to win the giant slalom in the 2012 Audi FIS Alpine World Cup at Nature Valley Aspen Winternational.

Maze dominated the day and finished nine-tenths of a second faster than the second place finisher, Kathrin Zettel of Austria. German’s Viktoria Rebensburg rounded out Saturday’s giant slalom podium in third.

“This was my first podium in the U.S. and I am very proud,” said Maze, who remains undefeated in GS thus far this season. “The course was perfect today, and the new skis favor my power.”

Seventeen-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin, of Eagle, Colo., was the top American finisher on Saturday, coming out with bib number 42 to finish in ninth place, her career best in GS. In just her second year on the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup, Shiffrin now has six top 10s, five of them in slalom. Her previous best GS was 26th in Andorra last season.

“In GS, it’s a big breakthrough for me,” Shiffrin acknowledged. “I may have approached the second run even a little bit better. The first run I overskied some sections, but I felt awesome – like I was training. So I accomplished my goal for the first run, and second run, it was just like, ‘Take it down the hill. See if you can go any faster.’ And I think I did.

“It gives me confidence for both GS and slalom knowing that I can do it in two events. I just need to keep moving forward – never being satisfied with what I’ve done and always trying to improve.”

Fellow Americans Julia Mancuso, of Olympic Valley, Calif., and a still ailing Lindsey Vonn also qualified for Saturday’s second run, placing 15th and 21st respectively.

“I feel like I’ve run a 100-mile marathon. And I’ve never run more than five miles in my life,” said Vonn. “It was a struggle. I tried so hard to get energy back up for the second run, but I just didn’t have it…I didn’t have the power to arc the turns.”

Canada’s Marie-Pier Préfontaine, of Saint-Sauveur, Quebec, celebrated the second-best World Cup result of her career with a 13^th-place finish. Her teammate Marie-Michèle Gagnon, of Lac-Etchemin, Quebec, also charged hard but a couple of big mistakes cost her valuable time and she finished 23^rd.

“I’m happy with my 13^th place,” said Préfontaine. “Hopefully this is a good (season) for me after finishing 19^th (in the season opener in Soelden, Austria). It’s the best start I’ve had to a season.”

Gagnon, who was sixth in Soelden and followed that up with a 10^th-place finish in the slalom in Levi, Finland, wasn’t happy with Saturday’s result.

“It’s tough. I didn’t do it today,” said Gagnon, who was 17^th after the first run. “I just made a lot of mistakes that cost me a lot of time. On the second run I crossed my skis twice. I will look at the video tonight to see (what happened).

“It’s definitely not my best and I’m disappointed.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Nature Valley Aspen Winternational – Aspen, CO – Nov. 24, 2012
Women’s Giant Slalom