Vonn crashes, Riesch wins super-combined gold

Maria Riesch of Germany took advantage of a mid-course crash by American Lindsey Vonn and an "easy" slalom run to win the super-combined and her first Olympic title on Thursday.

American Julia Mancuso claimed her second silver in as many days finishing at 0.94sec with brave Anja Paerson of Sweden claiming the bronze at 1.05 only a day after a spectacular crash in the women's downhill.

Riesch, the world slalom champion, trailed Vonn by only 0.33 after the first leg downhill of the two-discipline event and had only one thought in mind when she saw the slalom - attack.

Set by the Slovenian coach of racer Tina Maze, what proved to be a relatively unchallenging course provided no major problems for the field.

Riesch attacked, and finished in a total time of 2min 10.08sec to knock Mancuso off provisional top spot.

As well as winning her first Olympic silverware, she handed Germany their first women's alpine gold since 1998 when Hilde Gerg won the slalom and Katja Seizinger won the downhill and led a German clean sweep of the combined.

"That was incredible," said Riesch, who in recent seasons has regularly played runner-up to the more accomplished Vonn in the World Cup series.

"Of course it's always possible to have positive thoughts and think you can come back strong. It has happened in the World Cup."

She added: "I knew it was a course to attack, the setting was not so difficult. It was attack and nothing else. No one else was having problems so it was full gas and it worked."

Riesch: Germany's comeback kid

Vonn had made history Wednesday by winning the United States' first ever Olympic gold in the women's downhill and was expected to at least medal Thursday.

But, suffering pain from a shin injury and having not trained much in slalom this season, there were always doubts hanging over the American's ability to finish the technical event while under pressure.

She started gingerly and her 0.33 lead over Riesch began to steadily decrease as she made her way round the first gates on Franz's slalom run. Disaster then struck before the halfway mark.

"It didn't go my way today, but that's ski racing," said Vonn.

"I wish I could have made it to the bottom. My shin's killing me. It's hurting so bad."

So far, Vonn's celebrity has prompted some to dub these Olympics the 'Vonn-couver Games'.

But for the second day in a row Mancuso stole some of the spotlight, and there's still the defence of her giant slalom title from Turin in 2006 to come.

"It's such a feeling of accomplishment. It's all about believing," said Mancuso.

"I haven't really had a chance to show my skills out there - until today."

Reigning Olympic slalom champion Paerson was tearful on the podium.

She only decided to race the super-combined at the last minute because of injuries suffered in a spectacular crash in the women's downhill Wednesday.

"I was pretty scared this morning because I was hurting a lot but I didn't want to miss out this event," said Paerson, who claimed her second consecutive bronze in the combined.

"It was a fight. It hurts, but I'm fighting and trying to keep smile. It was amazing even to be starting."