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FLACHAU, Austria (AP) — Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany mastered tough conditions to come from behind and win her first World Cup giant slalom race in more than three years on Sunday.
Rebensburg trailed Ana Drev by .04 seconds after the first run but completed the two heats .94 seconds ahead of the Slovenian despite racing through heavy snow in the second run. Drev made the podium for the first time in her career.
Federica Brignone of Italy finished third, .99 seconds off the pace.
Overall World Cup leader Lara Gut of Switzerland finished a distant 19th after a mistake on the second run, while her closest rival Lindsey Vonn of the United States crashed out in the second run.
Eva-Maria Brem of Austria finished fourth to dislodge Gut from the top of the giant slalom standings. Brem now has 392 points and is 30 points clear of Gut. Gut increased her overall lead over Vonn, however, and is now 50 points clear at 750.
Rebensburg won the giant slalom gold medal at the 2010 Olympics and took the bronze four years later. She also won the silver at last year's world championships.
But she had to wait three years for her 11th World Cup win, after a Super-G triumph in January 2012 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
"You have to believe in yourself and let your skis run," Rebensburg said.
She was the first to start the first run as falling snow and poor visibility slowed later starters. Drev was ninth out of the gate and clipped the German by .04 seconds.
The second run began in sunshine, but the snow returned by the time the top runners started in reverse order and all leaders had to deal with poor visibility.
Vonn, winner of one giant slalom race this season, appeared to catch a rut with her right ski and crashed out close to the finish line.
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