Schild collects another slalom title

LIENZ, Austria, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Austrian skier Marlies Schild notched her fourth slalom victory of the season, taking Thursday's race in her home country by nearly a full second.

Schild posted the best opening run and backed that with a solid second trip down the course for a total time of 1 minute, 51.42 seconds. Slovenia's Tina Maze was second in 1:52.21.

American Mikaela Shiffrin was third, another half second behind Maze. At 16, Shiffrin is the youngest female skier to finish in the top three of a World Cup ski event in 33 years. The race in Lienz was just her eighth World Cup event.

Schild won slaloms in Aspen, Colo.; Courchevel, France; and Flachau, Austria, earlier this season. She has 400 points in leading the slalom standings. Maze is a distant second with 207 points.

Lindsey Vonn, who was 18th at in the Lienz slalom, continues to lead the overall World Cup standings with 612 points. Schild is second with 440 with Austria's Anna Fenninger (368) third and Germans Viktoria Rebensburg (336) and Maria Hoefl-Riesch (326) in fourth and fifth, respectively.