Kostelic cruises to win

Kostelic was quickest in both legs of the slalom

Janica Kostelic continued to run away with the women's Alpine ski World Cup with her second slalom victory of the season on Sunday.

The Croatian triple Olympic champion beat Finn Tanja Poutiainen by a 1.23-second margin, clocking a winning time of one minute 42.97 seconds in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

New Zealand's Claudia Riegler earned her first podium place in four years, taking third spot in 1:44.44.

But Swede Anja Paerson, slalom silver medallist at the Olympics behind Kostelic, straddled a gate in the second leg after setting the seventh-best time in the opening run.

World Cup champion Laure Pequegnot of France also had a disappointing day, finishing more than two seconds behind Kostelic, according to provisional results.

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Leading results of women's Alpine skiing World Cup slalom, Lenzerheide, Switzerland

1. Janica Kostelic (Cro) one minute 42.97 seconds (first leg 50.64/second leg 52.33)
2. Tanja Poutiainen (Fin) 1:44.20 (51.48/52.72)
3. Claudia Riegler (Nzl) 1:44.44 (52.30/52.14)
4. Monika Bergmann (Ger) 1:44.54 (51.74/52.80)
5. Annemarie Gerg (Ger) 1:44.61 (51.09/53.52)