Alpine skiing-Kostelic snatches win from Paerson

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By Mark Ledsom

ST MORITZ, Switzerland, Jan 22 - Janica Kostelic snatched victory from her rival Anja Paerson in a World Cup super-combined event on Sunday.

Sweden's Paerson, last season's overall cup champion, led by 0.21 seconds after the downhill leg of the event but a big mistake halfway down the slalom run cost her victory.

"My goal was to win today so I'm not particularly satisfied," Paerson told reporters.

"I got my hand and butt on the snow though and lost all my speed so I guess I should be happy to finish in second place."

Croatian Kostelic, who will defend three Olympic titles at the Turin Games next month, skied a faultless slalom leg to win her fourth victory of the Alpine ski season and stretch her lead in the overall standings.

"I was feeling okay about my chances after the downhill section," Kostelic said. "I was coming into the slalom two tenths of a second behind, which when you're up against Anja is quite a lot, but she made that mistake so I guess I was a little lucky."

American Lindsey Kildow was third in a race marred by a near-miss in the downhill leg when former overall champion Michaela Dorfmeister had to swerve to avoid a course worker crossing the piste.

"Mistakes like that shouldn't happen," Dorfmeister told reporters after finishing the combined in 17th place.

"This weekend just goes to show how close the gap is between victory and disaster in these high-speed events," added the 32-year-old Austrian who celebrated back-to-back wins in the super-G and downhill races here on Friday and Saturday.

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index