ALPINE:

Canada's Gagnon 5th in St. Moritz giant slalom

Dec. 12, 2010      ♦ Photo: Marie-Michele Gagnon from Lake Louise earlier this season (Michel Painchaud)

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland — Tessa Worley of France won women's World Cup giant slalom on the Corviglia course for her second straight victory, while Lindsey Vonn placed seventh Sunday to move up in the overall standings.

Worley had a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 10.70 seconds to beat Tanja Poutiainen of Finland by 0.01 of a second. Tina Maze of Slovenia was third, 0.31 back on the windswept Corviglia course.

Canada's Marie-Michele Gagnon turned in a stellar effort for fifth place. Gagnon, 14th in the opening run, was timed in 2:11.49 to earn a career-best finish in fifth. Canada's Marie-Pier Prefontaine placed 24th, while Britt Janyk did not qualify for the second run.

Worley, 21, earned her fourth career World Cup victory. "I feel lucky but I also feel that I did my job today,” she said. “I'm a bit more calm so I can do my skiing without making mistakes."

Vonn reduced her rival Maria Riesch's lead in the overall standings by 24 points.

"For me this is a good day with some great points to win," said the American, who improved from 16th after the first run in her weakest discipline. "I haven't got a top 10 in GS since last year in Sölden."

Germany's Riesch placed 19th, and now holds a 526-381 advantage in the standings over Vonn, the three-time defending champion.

Vonn said her aggression paid off in the second leg, which was delayed by an hour because of strong winds, which also forced Saturday's super-G race to be abandoned.

"I'm happy that I've finally done one good run," Vonn said. "I was too relaxed (in the morning). I'm trying to find the right balance."

Julia Mancuso of the U.S. placed eighth, 0.11 behind Vonn, for her fifth top-10 finish of the season. She is tied for fifth overall with Elisabeth Goergl of Austria.

Riesch's result ended her run of 13 straight top-10 finishes in World Cup events stretching back to January.

Worley also won the GS at Aspen, Colo., last month by 0.01 ahead of Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg.

"I can't imagine why it's one-hundredth each time. I think I have to be faster in the first run," joked Worley, who placed fifth in the morning.

Rebensburg, the Olympic GS champion, led after the opening leg Sunday but made two mistakes in the afternoon and placed 10th.

Poutiainen was philosophical about her narrow loss, which lifted her to third in the overall World Cup standings.

"You can lose this one-hundredth anywhere and everywhere. I can't do anything more about it," she said.

With the win, Worley took the lead in the World Cup giant slalom standings. She has 232 points, 30 clear of Rebensburg who won the season-opener at Sölden, Austria.

Gagnon, who was 14th after the opening run, finished just 0.48 from the podium in a two-run combined time of 2:11.49 seconds. She had the third-best second run of the day.

"I was really surprised. I was asking myself this morning if I was going to be in the top 30 because in the GS in Aspen I just missed qualifying," said Gagnon. "I am still disappointed about that, but I'm skiing well and I have been in GS since Sölden, so I feel good about it."

"I try to make sure I have the right mindset. I just attack like no other. It's a World Cup and there is no other way to ski then to attack," Gagnon added.

Préfontaine finished 24th in 2:13.49, also a personal-best World Cup result.

Perhaps most impressive is that both Gagnon and Préfontaine's result come with bib numbers outside of the top 30. Gagnon wore bib 36 while Préfontaine went 33rd in the opening run.

Janyk narrowly missed out, finishing 37th in the opening run, 0.34 from a top-30 time.

The women's World Cup tour heads to Val d'Isère, France, to resume the speed season next week. The super-G that was canceled this week in St. Moritz has been rescheduled for Friday in Val d'Isère.

Gagnon said she would be staying in St. Moritz along with several World Cup skiers who plan to participate in downhill training runs starting Monday prior to a Europa Cup this week in St. Moritz.

Sunday's race is televised on Rogers Sportsnet this afternoon. (Viewing areas breakdown: 12 p.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. West, 3p.m. East and Ontario, 6 p.m. Sportsnet One.)  S-Magazine

— The Canadian Press and Alpine Canada contributed to this report

St. Moritz women's World Cup giant slalom results