Maze, who won double gold at Sochi 2014, was quickest after both runs as she finished 0.22 seconds ahead of Austria's Nicole Hosp, while compatriot Michaela Kirchgasser took her maiden individual medal by clinching bronze.

Anna Fenninger, also of Austria, narrowly missed out on a podium place which would have given her a second gold after she won the women's super-G on the opening day of the Championships.

There was to be no fairytale finish for highly-fancied American Lindsey Vonn in front of her home crowd as she straddled a gate at the top of her slalom rush and did not finish.

The Slovenian once again proved why she is a force to be reckoned with as she maintained her monopoly of the majority of recent world titles, and she now has three medals to her name following her silver in the super-G.

Maze is aiming to become the first woman to win five medals at a World Championships and she will have the chance to do just that with the giant slalom and slalom events still to come.

"I'm totally exhausted, it's a tough programme and late start time for the slalom and it's also really warm," she said.

"But winning is always amazing and now there's time to recover and enjoy.

"I can say even though I'm tired I did my best and I'm happy with the win."

Maze will now bid to make history by becoming the first woman to win five medals at a world championships ©Getty Images



In beautiful conditions at the American resort, Maze stormed to the front in the downhill part of the event as she posted a time of 1min 45.25sec, giving her a 0.02 second advantage over Laura Gut of Switzerland.

Fenninger meanwhile gave herself every possibility of winning the super combined as she was third going into the all-important slalom section.

Before the imperious Maze set off for her run, it looked as though Austria would enjoy a clean sweep as they dominated the podium, with Hosp leading ahead of Kirchgasser and Fenninger.

But the Austrian dominance was ended as Maze kept her cool on the soft snow and her time of 48.12, although slower than four other athletes, proved enough to make it yet another golden day for the Slovenian.

The action is due to continue in Colorado continues on Tuesday (February 10) with the nations team event, before a rest day on Wednesday (February 11).

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
February 2015: Hirscher storms back in slalom to seal combined title at Alpine World Ski Championships
February 2015: Kueng surges to surprise gold in men's downhill at FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
February 2015: Maze edges Fenninger to women's downhill world title
February 2015: Reichelt claims men's super-G gold at Alpine World Ski Championship
February 2015: Fenninger wins narrowest of super-G titles as World Ski Championships opens