American Lindsey Vonn moved to the top of the World Cup overall standings by winning her second straight race, a super-combined yesterday in St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria.
US teammate Julia Mancuso was third for the second straight race.
Vonn led after the downhill leg and finished with a combined time of 2 minutes 20.28 seconds after the slalom. It was her third victory of the season and 10th overall.
Maria Riesch of Germany took second, 0.63 seconds back, and Mancuso was another 0.02 seconds behind.
Vonn, who had been fourth in the standings, was leading with 474 points, ahead of Nicole Hosp of Austria with 419 and Riesch with 389. Mancuso was sixth with 364 points.
The last American woman to win the overall World Cup title was Tamara McKinney in 1983.
"Sure, I remember Tamara well, she was a big star a long time ago. But [the title] doesn't really matter to me right now as it is much too early in the season," Vonn said. "We've just had three weeks of downhill skiing and I am sure that Nicole Hosp will gain many points in the upcoming technical disciplines. So it's better for me to not think about that now."
Only 17 skiers completed both disciplines - super-combined specialists like Hosp, Anja Paerson, and defending World Cup champion Marlies Schild did not finish.
"With so many good racers out, I didn't have to take too many risks on my slalom run. I decided to make it a smart race," said Vonn, who was known as Lindsey Kildow before marrying fellow Olympian Thomas Vonn Sept. 29.
Vonn skied the slalom after missing Friday afternoon's training session to attend a news conference and interviews after winning the downhill.
"That annoyed me of course, but [teammate] Stacey Cook told me about the course and that it was well-prepared, so finally it meant no disadvantage to me," said Vonn, who won her first super-combined after seven downhills and two super-Gs.
Vonn took a big advantage into the slalom after beating Mancuso and Hosp by 1.48 seconds in the downhill.
"My race was better than yesterday's as I had far less errors," said Vonn, who skied flawlessly in the first part of the course, where she had made several mistakes Friday.
Vonn almost missed a gate after a long jump threw her off course but she quickly found her line.
Riesch also opted for a safe race in the slalom.
"My downhill race wasn't great, and with so many others already out I just wanted to finish my slalom run," she said.
Austrians Schild and Hosp attacked in their slalom runs but both lost control on the icy course and missed a gate.
In the downhill leg of the super-combined, Paerson misjudged a curve and missed the next gate halfway down the course. Paerson also did not finish Friday's downhill.
"I gave everything but my knee was painful yesterday so I felt a bit anxious going into today's race," Paerson said.
The bumpy lower part of the downhill course caused troubles for many, and Daniela Merighetti, Elisabeth Goergl, and Simone Streng had full-speed crashes but avoided serious injuries.
The event in St. Anton am Arlberg was the first of only three super-combined races this season. The other two are at Whistler, British Columbia, Feb. 23, and Crans Montana, Switzerland, March 9.
Next on the women's schedule are a slalom and a giant slalom in Lienz, Austria, Dec. 28-29.
Ski jump - Austria's Thomas Morgenstern became the first ski jumper to open a World Cup season with six straight victories, taking a large hill event to equal the record for most consecutive wins.
The Olympic champion won with jumps of 132.5 and 133.0 meters for 260.4 points in Engelberg, Switzerland, beating Austrian compatriot Andreas Kofler (134.5-128.5, 254.4 points).
Norway's Tom Hilde (133.5-129.5, 252.9 points) was third.
Morgenstern last week eclipsed Austria's Andreas Felder, who started the 1984 season with four straight victories, and Finland's Janne Ahonen, who had four wins at the start of 2004.
The 21-year-old Morgenstern's victory tied him with Ahonen and Finland's Matti Hautamaki for most consecutive victories at any time. Morgenstern will have a chance to claim the record for himself today in another large hill event.
Snowboarding - Austrian Stefan Gimpl won a Big Air snowboarding World Cup competition in Sofia, Bulgaria, and overall standings leader Janne Korpi finished second.
Matevz Petek, last year's winner from Slovenia, was third.
Gimpl is second in the Big Air standings, trailing Korpi, 2,200-2,040.
Korpi, from Finland, also leads the overall standings with 3,400 points, ahead of Frenchman Mathieu Bozzetto, who has 2,950.
The snowboarders competed on manmade snow under the lights at the Knyaz Alexander Batenberg Square in Sofia.
"It was a great evening and a great Christmas present for me and my family," Gimpl said.
