Maria Riesch of Germany captured her fourth consecutive World Cup slalom yesterday at Maribor, Slovenia, winning by more than a second to move within one victory of tying the record for consecutive discipline wins.

Defending overall champion Lindsey Vonn of the United States just missed the podium, finishing fourth with a blistering second run that lifted her from 18th after the first.

Riesch held a commanding lead after the opening run and easily held off her challengers in the second to finish in a combined time of 1 minute, 29.64 seconds for her 10th overall World Cup win.

"I had some doubts ahead of my second run," Riesch said. "A big lead makes you feel safe, but in slalom you can easily go out and I was a bit scared for that. ... I am delighted that it worked out well."

Kathrin Zettel of Austria was third, 1.15 seconds behind, while Finland's Tanja Poutiainen was third, 1.77 back.

Vonn's second leg was 0.29 seconds quicker than Zettel, but she finished 2.04 behind Riesch.

"It was a fantastic second run," said Vonn, who celebrated after finishing as if she'd won the race. "I knew it would not be enough to win but it was really nice to get it anyway."

Riesch extended her lead in the overall World Cup standings. She has 729 points, followed by Poutiainen with 644 and Vonn with 616.

Olympic silver medalist Reinfried Herbst of Austria won his first race of the season with a victory in the Adelboden slalom in Switzerland. Herbst, 30, who won two slaloms last season, recorded his fourth career victory with a combined time of 1 minute, 42.95 seconds. Fellow Austrian Manfred Pranger, who missed last season because of injury, was second.

Gregor Schlierenzauer of Austria won his second World Cup ski jumping meet in as many days in Bad Mitterndorf, Austria. Schlierenzauer had jumps of 203.5 and 202 meters for a total of 393.6 points, earning him his fourth victory of the season and 15th overall. Harri Olli of Finland was second, and World Cup leader Simon Ammann of Switzerland was third, trailing Schlierenzauer by 11.4 points.

Olympic gold medalist Shaun White won the men's superpipe final and hometown hero and fellow gold medalist Kelly Clark topped the women's field in the second stop of the inaugural Winter Dew Tour in West Dover, Vermont.