Austrian Goergl wins Worlds super G

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Austria's Elisabeth Goergl opened this week's world Alpine skiing championships Tuesday by winning a squeaker in the women's super G event.

Goergl turned in a time of 1 minute, 23.82 seconds, 5/100ths of a second ahead of second-place Julie Mancuso of the United States.

Germany's Maria Riesch, the overall World Cup points leader this season, won the bronze medal with a 1:24.03. Lindsey Vonn of the United States placed seventh.

Mancuso made a strong bid to overtake Goergl by making up nearly a half a second on the bottom half of the icy and treacherous Kandahar course at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

"The win was decided by a really small margin, but I'm definitely psyched with the silver," Mancuso said. "I knew I was slow on top and I had to fight my way back onto the podium."

The Worlds continue Wednesday with the men's super G.