Italy's Karen Putzer did everything she could to take the women's discipline championship in Giant Slalom, but wound up just short Sunday in Lillehammer.

Putzer led the first run and won by more than a second with a time of 2:27.55, but Sweden's Anja Paerson was fifth and claimed the women's GS title by one point over the Italian. Sarah Schleper had the fourth-fastest second run and finished seventh in 2:29.70, her best GS result of the winter, with Kirsten Clark finishing 14th in 2:31.07 as she stayed in the top 10 for the season, the best U.S. women's showing since Picabo Street was sixth in 1996 in winning her second consecutive downhill title.

Schleper liked the hard snow. She also changed her recent game plan. "The first run I didn't try to ski out of myself; I've been doing that and going out," she explained, "so I didn't want to risk everything, and I did that on the second run, too. It's probably not the best approach but it worked for today. I'm glad the season's over. It's been tough to get motivated these last days."

— Courtesy U.S. Ski Team