Maze still on top

Slovenia’s Tina Maze is looking more and more unbeatable in giant slalom this season and will undoubtedly be bidding to stretch her lead atop the World Cup standings next year. The 29 year old, who has a massive lead of 427 points over Olympic champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch, has improved every year over the four previous seasons — sixth, fourth, third, second. With defending champion Lindsey Vonn and Hoefl-Riesch currently struggling, Maze will be wary of Austrian star Anna Fenninger who had two near-perfect runs to win a World Cup giant slalom in Semmering on Friday. Just over a year since her maiden World Cup triumph at Lienz, Fenninger posted the fastest time in both runs on the Panorama course and finished in a combined time of 2 minutes, 13.09 seconds to edge out Maze by 1.10. Fenninger is now fourth in the overall standings, 36 points ahead of Vonn who recently started skiing again after a stomach illness in November.