Rebensburg surprises in giant slalom

WHISTLER, British Columbia - Victory was only a matter of time for Viktoria Rebensburg. Breaking through at the Olympics, however, exceeded even her own expectations.

Rebensburg beat the fog down the mountain and took a surprise win in the Olympic giant slalom yesterday, less than a year after she swept gold medals in super-G and giant slalom at the junior world championships.

"I just won a gold medal at an Olympic event," said the 20-year-old German, who had never won a senior-level race before. "It's the highest thing I could ever achieve. Crazy!"

Rebensburg stood only sixth after the opening leg, and clocked a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 27.11 seconds down Franz's GS. The time held up when the first-run leaders were slowed by fog that got worse after Rebensburg's run.

Tina Maze of Slovenia was second, 0.04 second behind, matching her silver in super-G, and first-run leader Elisabeth Goergl of Austria added another bronze, 0.14 back, duplicating her downhill finish.