Italy hailed a new skiing star on Friday as Denise Karbon won her third straight giant slalom of the World Cup season at this Austrian resort.
Karbon, 27, beat off World Cup rival and Olympic champion Julia Mancuso of the United States and fellow Italian Nicole Gius to make it three out of three.
''I was surprised how fast I was going. Everything went great and I felt very relaxed,'' said Karbon, who has skipped recent speed events to focus on the more technical races.
Karbon outpaced Mancuso by one and a quarter seconds over the two runs. Gius was 0.34 seconds further back.
Another two Italians, Manuela Moelgg and Camilla Alfieri, made the top ten.
US national champ Resi Stiegler was hospitalised after a bad fall and will be out for weeks.
The win gave Karbon a secure lead in the World Cup giant slalom standings with 300 points compared to 186 for Mancuso and 159 for Elisabeth Goergl, who finished fourth.
Lindsey Vonn, who did not qualify for the second run, retains the lead in the overall standings by 474 points to 444 over Julia Mancuso.
Nicole Hosp, who finished 16th, dipped to third with 434 points and Anja Paerson (ninth on Friday) is now fourth with 412.
Karbon was born on August 16, 1980 in Bressanone (German:Brixen) in the Trentino-Alto Adige/Suedtirol region.
She debuted in the Alpine Skiing World Cup in 1998 and became Junior World Champion the following year.
Before her two previous wins this season, at Soelden in Austria and Panorama in Canada, she won a giant slalom on home ground at Alta Badia in 2003.
She has also obtained another six podium placements.
In 2003 she won a silver medal in giant slalom at the World Championships at St Moritz, but was then plagued by years of knee problems.
Karbon started her comeback with an emotional bronze earlier this year at Are, Sweden.
