Zettel Leads Austrian Sweep In Cortina

The three Austrians had already clocked the three fastest times of the morning run and they did not falter in the afternoon.

Kathrin Zettel led a clean sweep of podium places for Austria when she won her third giant slalom of the season in Cortina d'Ampezzo on Sunday.

Winner at home in Semmering and Soelden this season, the 22-year-old Zettel scored her fifth career victory, all in giant slaloms, in a combined time of two minutes 47.10 seconds.

Michaela Kirchgasser was second, 1.39 seconds behind, while first leg leader Elisabeth Goergl completed the Austrian treble.

"Three wins already and it's going better and better," Zettel told reporters. "I'm in the form of my life and I hope it continues until March, and of course next week at the world championships.

"Cortina is not a place in which I've done too well in the past and this goes to show how well I'm doing. To share this victory with my team mates makes it even better."

The three Austrians had already clocked the three fastest times of the morning run and they did not falter in the afternoon.

Zettel took the lead in the giant slalom World Cup standings, while Lindsey Vonn retained top spot overall, in spite of a 10th place finish on Sunday.

The American, second in Saturday's downhill, made a serious mistake halfway down the second course.

Sweden's Anja Paerson, fourth behind the Austrian trio after the first run, almost crashed in the second leg and finished a lowly 18th.

The ski programme continues in Cortina on Monday with the Super-G.