Lindsey Vonn, of the United States, celebrates at finish line after winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Maribor, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/PierMarco Tacca)
Lindsey Vonn, of the United States, celebrates at finish line after winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Maribor, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/PierMarco Tacca)
Lindsey Vonn, of the United States, celebrates at finish line after winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Maribor, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/PierMarco Tacca)
From left, Slovenia Tina Maze, second placed, Lindsey Vonn, the winner, of the United States, and third placed Austria's Anna Fenninger celebrate on podium after winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Maribor, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/PierMarco Tacca)
Lindsey Vonn, of the United States, speeds past a gate on her way to clock the third fastest time in an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Maribor, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
Lindsey Vonn, of the United States, celebrates at finish line after winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Maribor, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/PierMarco Tacca)
MARIBOR, Slovenia (AP) ? Lindsey Vonn beat rival Tina Maze on the Slovenian's home snow and in her best discipline Saturday, earning a surprising victory in a giant slalom.
Maze had a chance to secure her third giant slalom discipline title with a victory and led after a near-perfect first run, but a poor start to the second cost her valuable time and she finished 0.08 seconds behind Vonn.
Vonn proved again that she is back to her best after an illness by putting down two good runs in what is traditionally her weakest event to win in 2 minutes, 22.2 seconds.
Vonn was third after the first run but overcame several errors to have the fastest time in the second and create a margin that Maze couldn't bridge.
"In the second run I decided, OK, it's all or nothing, I had to go for it," Vonn said. "It's been a rough year for me in GS, so it's just perfect."
Vonn earned her first GS victory since March of last year, and her second win in a week after taking the downhill at Cortina D'Ampezzo.
With her 59th World Cup win overall, she's just three away from equaling Annemarie Moser Proell's record on the women's side.
Austria's Anna Fenninger was third, 0.57 seconds behind Vonn.
Maze extended her lead in the overall standing to 748 points against her closest challenger, Germany's Maria Hoefl-Riesch, who finished fourth. Vonn stands another 66 points back in third, having missed several races while recovering from an intestinal illness that landed her in hospital in November.
The 29-year-old Maze was expected to clinch the GS title in front of a passionate home crowd and was 0.48 seconds ahead of Vonn after dominating the first run.
However, she ran wide at the start of the second, leaving her 0.13 seconds behind her rival at the first checkpoint. Despite the cheers of the fans urging her on, Maze couldn't make up the time and finished with tears in her eyes.
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