Pietilae-Holmner cheers Swedish fans with home triumph

Are, Sweden (dpa) - Maria Pietilae-Holmner became Sweden's first World Cup women's slalom winner on home soil when she edged Tina Maze in Are Saturday.

The 28-year-old technical specialist got the better
of Slovenia's Maze by 0.06 seconds, posting a combined time of 1 minute 43.65 seconds for the third World Cup win of her career and the first since January 2011.

Pietilae-Holmner led by 0.22 seconds from the first run and held off overall World Cup leader Maze's strong challenge in the second leg.

Fellow Swede Frida Hansdotter was third on her 29th birthday, 0.32 seconds back, just keeping world and Olympic slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin off the podium.

Maze, who won Friday's giant slalom in Are, extended her lead in the overall standings to 560 points, ahead of Austrians Anna Fenninger (303) and Kathrin Zettel (290).

Hansdotter leads the slalom standings on 220 points, ahead of Maze (209) and Pietilae-Holmner (200).

The next women's World Cup race is a downhill in Val d'Isere, France next Saturday.

The Are World Cup weekend continues with a men's slalom on Sunday.