Three-time Olympic gold medalist Alberto Tomba, approaching his top form again, won his third consecutive World Cup slalom race Sunday.
Tomba, the runner-up in Saturday's giant slalom, was timed in 1 minute, 41.05 seconds, for the slalom.Mario Reiter of Austria, who led Tomba by .36 seconds after the first run, finished second at 1:41.25.
"I knew I could go for the victory because the second run suited me," Tomba said.
Third was Jure Kosir of Slovenia at 1:41.45.
Kosir praised the effort that Tomba made in the second run to overtake the three ahead of him.
"He is always stronger on the second run," Kosir said. "The second part of the second run is usually where he gets his advantage."
Sunday, if it wasn't the great Tomba, it was good enough.
At this time last year, Tomba had won five slaloms and two giant slaloms en route to 11 victories during the 1994-95 season.
"Last year it was easier," Tomba said. "I don't understand. This year, I wanted to be in form for December and January, but, of course, for February."
While Tomba has the three Olympic gold medals and won the overall World Cup title once, he never has won a gold medal at the World Championships.
This could be the year.
After a slow start, Tomba is beginning to peak in time for next month's World Championships at Sierra Nevada, Spain.
Tomba was the overall winner last year, but his slow start this season has virtually eliminated him from contention for the title. He missed the opening race at Tignes, France, missed gates in two other races and refused to race in a giant slalom in Slovenia before getting his first victory of the season at Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, Dec. 19.
With 47 career World Cup victories, Tomba trails only Ingemar Stenmark. The Swede had 86 wins.
"I don't know when the next one will be, maybe it will be Sierra Nevada," Tomba said.
Tomba won the final two slaloms of 1995 and was second in Saturday's giant slalom, won by Switzerland's Urs Kaelin.
Lasse Kjus of Norway, who finished 10th Sunday, remained on top in the season standings with 956 points. Michael Von Gruenigen of Switzerland, who was eighth in the slalom, is second with 590 points and Tomba has 530.
The men go to Kitzbuehel, Austria, for a series of four races starting Friday.
At Maribor, Slovenia, after 12 years on the ski circuit, Kristina Andersson of Sweden finally earned her first World Cup victory in Sunday's slalom.
The 30-year-old Andersson, the oldest woman on the World Cup tour, has consistently placed in the top 10 during her career. The closest she came to a win before Sunday were second-place finishes in slaloms at Lake Louise, Alberta, in 1991 and at Lillehammer, Norway, in 1993.
"It's an incredible victory," said Andersson, surrounded by teamates shedding tears of joy. "It feels like I trained and raced for a whole lifetime just for this."
Andersson was not the fastest in either run, but put together two solid times for a total of 1 minute, 45.36 seconds. She beat Austria's Elfi Eder - the winner of three slaloms this season - by .06 seconds.
"I've always kept believing that some day I would win, but I didn't think it would happen today," Andersson said, adding that her first run was terrible. "
Eder, leader of the World Cup slalom standings with 440 points, said she made a big mistake at the top of the second run.
Andersson is second in the standings with 270 points and Marianne Kjoerstad of Norway third with 264.
The unluckiest skier of the day was Andersson's teammate, double Olympic champion Pernilla Wiberg, who had nearly .7 seconds over the rest of the field after the first run.
Halfway down the second run, she had increased that lead to nearly a second when she made an error with the inner ski and slid off the course.
Wiberg, winner of two slaloms this season, started last because of the reverse-30 rule.
Martina Ertl of Germany remained atop the overall standings with 642 points. Second with 634 is Austria's Anita Wachter.
New Zealander Claudia Riegler was overjoyed with her third-place finish Sunday, earning the first medal of her career.
Riegler, who switched from the Austrian team to the New Zealand team in 1993, was timed in 1:45.48, only .12 seconds behind Andersson.
"If somebody had told me that reaching the podium was so easy, I wouldn't have believed them," Riegler said.
Slovenian favorite Urska Hrovat disappointed the large home crowd, slipping from second in the first run to end up sixth.
Teammate Natasa Bokal, 27th in the first run, skied aggressively in the second, posting the fastest time, 51.04. That moved her to 12th.
The women's tour now moves to Garmisch, Germany, Jan. 13-14 for a super-G and slalom.
At Schonach, Germany, Fred-Boerre Lundberg of Norway won the World Cup Nordic combined at Schonach on Sunday with a time of 39.31 seconds for the 15-kilometer cross-country ski race held in pouring rain.
Lundberg was just 5.7 seconds ahead of second place Kenji Ogiwara of Japan, who faded at the end.
"I nearly gave up after the third round," Lundberg said. "But then luckily Ogiwara broke down."
It was the first win of the season for the 26-year-old Lundberg, who also won this Black Forest event in 1991, 1993 and last year.
Knut-Tore Apeland was third, with Jari Mantila of Finland was fourth, both 1:22.6 back.
In overall standings, Apeland leads after four Nordic combined events with 401 points. Mantila is second with 380 and Lundberg third with 356.