Hoelzl ends German wait with gold

VAL D'ISERE, France: Kathrin Hoelzl ended Germany's long wait for a gold medal by taming the daunting Bellevarde piste to win the women's giant slalom at the Alpine skiing world championships on Thursday.

Hoelzl, in fourth after the first run, held her nerve on a deteriorated piste in the second run to clock a combined winning time of two minutes 03.49 seconds to become her country's first world champion since Martina Ertl's combined title in 2001.

"This is crazy," the 24-year-old Hoelzl said after making her first major win a world title. "I attacked as much as I could and I knew when I reached the finish that it would be good enough for a podium."