Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany won a surprise gold medal in the Olympic giant slalom on Thursday, with the first-run leaders slowed by dense fog.

Rebensburg, who had never won a major race, won in a two-run combined time of two minutes, 27.11 seconds.

Tina Maze of Slovenia was second, 0.12 seconds behind, matching her result in super-G, and first-run leader Elisabeth Goergl of Austria added another bronze, 0.49 back, duplicating her downhill finish.

The 20-year-old Rebensburg stood only sixth after the opening leg.

Defending champion Julia Mancuso of the United States finished eighth.

The first run of the race was held on Wednesday, but dense fog forced organisers to postpone the second leg for a day.

There was more fog on Thursday, and it got worse just after Rebensburg's run.

Rebensburg's best previous result was second in the last World Cup giant slalom before the Vancouver Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. Before that, she had never finished on the podium.

Like the first leg on Wednesday, organisers again rushed to get the race in, sending down racers at 60- and 75-second intervals - meaning there were often two skiers on the course at a time - and abandoning TV breaks before the first 30 racers came down and the medals were decided.

The short intervals created problems in the first leg, with Mancuso's first trip down interrupted because teammate Lindsey Vonn crashed out immediately before her - breaking her right little finger.

Mancuso had to be brought back up for another try and eventually placed 18th in the opening leg. The Californian had the third-fastest second run to move up 10 spots in the final standings.

The race was briefly interrupted after 18 skiers came down due to an apparent timing equipment problem.

Only one more women's race remains on the Alpine schedule, Friday's slalom.

Andrew Dampf
AP