Berchtesgaden, Germany, Jan. 9 (AP by Roy Kammerer)--Slovenia's Spela Pretnar put together two near perfect runs Sunday to capture her second slalom title of the season.
Pretnar mastered the tight curves at the bottom of a flat icy Groetchen slope better than anyone in the wide-open race for the overall slalom title, finishing her two runs in 1 minute, 33.31 seconds.
``I was really skiing very fast,'' Pretnar said. ``I think I was at my limit.''
France's Christel Saioni finished second, .47 back at 1:34.23, while Norway's Trine Bakke was third and Austria's Sabine Egger fourth.
Bakke still clung to a narrow lead in the overall race with 390 points, 19 ahead of Saioni. Pretnar is third with 356 points and Egger at 332.
``I'm planning to keep that record all season,'' said Bakke, who has finished no worse than sixth in six slaloms this season.
Pretnar, with her third career World Cup win, was just .04 seconds ahead of Saioni's time halfway through her second run.
But Pretnar, whose other slalom win came at the similarly flat Copper Mountain, was the most aggressive skier on both runs when it came to the tricky, windy bottom of the course.
``I knew I could win here. I like flat courses and this one was very flat,'' Pretnar said.
Pretnar had the best time on both runs, a 47.79-second first heat followed by 45.52 as the race concluded under the lights and icy temperatures that sped up an already fast course.
The slalom race has been wide open all season with Croat teen sensation Janica Kostelic threatening to dominate until she was sidelined with a knee injury that occurred during a downhill last month.
Kristina Koznick, of Burnsville, Minn., was the top American, finishing 12th in 1:36.13.
Copyright (c) 2000 The Associated Press
