France's Tessa Worley, center, winner of an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, smiles on the podium with second placed Italy's Federica Brignone, left, and third placed Viktoria Rebensburg, of Germany, in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
France's Tessa Worley, center, winner of an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, smiles on the podium with second placed Italy's Federica Brignone, left, and third placed Viktoria Rebensburg, of Germany, in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
France's Tessa Worley celebrates after winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
France's Tessa Worleyl powers past a gate during the first run of an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
Austria's Elisabeth Goergl powers past a gate during the first run of an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
Lindsey Vonn, of the United States, powers past a gate during the first run of an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia (AP) ? Tessa Worley of France won a World Cup giant slalom on Saturday after first-run leader Elisabeth Goergl of Austria crashed at the bottom of the second run.
World Cup leader Lindsey Vonn finished fourth, just missing the podium by three-hundredths of a second despite a spectacular recovery to prevent a crash near the end of the race.
"I skied the top well, but it was very bumpy at the bottom," Vonn said. "I did my best, but it just wasn't good enough for first."
Worley clocked 2 minutes, 3.02 seconds down the course to beat Federica Brignone of Italy, who finished in 2:03.58. Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany was third in 2:03.91.
Tina Maze, the home favorite and reigning world champion, finished fifth. Vonn increased her lead in the overall standings to 296 points ahead of Maze.
Vonn, who won her first giant slalom in the season opener in October, had two solid runs in her generally weakest event. However, she needed to put her hand on the snow a few gates from the finish to steady herself and lost time.
Worley trailed Goergl at the end of the first run, and it looked as if the Austrian was going to push her all the way before falling shortly before the finish line.
A perfect second run ensured Worley finished more than a half-second ahead of Brignone to claim her sixth World Cup victory and first in more than a year. All her triumphs have come in the giant slalom.
"It was a tough race but fun," Worley said. "The snow was great, but it was difficult and very technical. It was a pretty short run, so you needed to be at top tempo from start to finish."
Rebensburg had a fantastic second run to make up lost time after finishing seventh in the first, 0.88 seconds off the pace.
Kathrin Zettel of Austria, who won the giant slalom and the slalom in 2010, finished ninth after a poor second run.
The event was scheduled for Maribor but moved because of lack of snow. Last year's event was canceled because of weather.
A slalom will be held Sunday, with 16-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin in the event. She finished third in the Lienz slalom in December.
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