Elfi Eder of Austria packaged two solid runs to win a women's World Cup slalom Saturday for her first career victory in six seasons on the circuit.

Eder, whose best previous finish was fourth in 1994, negotiated a steep, icy course in 39.11 seconds for the first run - .16 seconds faster than Edda Mutter of Germany.Mutter missed a gate in the second run, and Eder had the fifth-fastest time in the second heat for an aggregate time of 1 minute, 22.49 seconds. Norway's Marianne Kjoerstad came from eighth place in the first run to wind up second, .71 seconds back, despite doing a face-plant across the finish line.

Gabriela Zingre-Graf of Switzerland was third at 1:23.29, followed by teammates Martina Accola at 1:23.31 and Karin Roten at 1:23.55.

Germany's Martina Ertl, who won a super-G at nearby Vail on Thursday, was seventh after the first run but missed a gate on the second run.

The race figured to award a first-time winner, since five of the top six finishers in the first run were winless.

Eder, 25, is the sister of World Cup veteran Sylvia Eder, who retired last summer.

Sweden's Pernilla Wiberg is the favorite to win this year's slalom title, following the retirement of six-time slalom champion Vreni Schneider. But Wiberg, who was runner-up to Schneider last year, hooked a gate on her first run and fell, as did teammate Kristina Andersson.

The only American to qualify for the second run was Kristina Koznick, 19, of Burnsville, Minn. She was 20th in the first run but rallied to finish 11th at 1:24.80. Koznick had arthroscopic knee surgery last month.

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Officials used the reverse-15 rule for the second run, instead of the controversial reverse-30 rule used in the men's giant slalom Friday.

The International Ski Federation adopted the reverse-30 rule for this season, but gave race officials the option of changing to the more traditional reverse-15 if conditions warranted it.

Under the reverse-30, the top 30 finishers in the first run of giant slalom and slalom are to run in reverse order, meaning the leader would run 30th and be exposed to a rutted, deteriorating course. Officials said the change was made to create more suspense for spectators and give more skiers a chance to medal.

Stars such as Italy's Alberto Tomba have threatened to boycott over the reverse-30 rule. But Tomba did compete, finishing seventh.

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