Sweden's Anja Paerson, unbeaten in her last three World Cup races, laid down a pair of nearly flawless runs Thursday to win the giant slalom title at the 2003 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships while Allison Forsyth gave Canada its second medal of the championships, finishing third. Top U.S. skier was Kristina Koznick, who was 12th.

Paerson, the fastest in each run, finished in an unofficial 2:30.97 with Denise Karbon of Italy taking silver (2:32.52) – the first medal for each nation – while Forsyth, second in the first run, took the bronze in 2:32.76. Her medal followed Melanie Turgeon's brilliant downhill gold Sunday.

For the U.S., Koznick was 12th with a time of 2:33.79 and Caroline Lalive finished 27th. Kirsten Clark missed a gate midway through her second run and Sarah Schleper crashed in the first run. Koznick and Schleper had trained in Italy with the Canadian and Norwegian women for the past week; Clark – the super G silver medalist – and Lalive have been in St. Moritz throughout the championships.

"I just tried to focus three gates at a time, stay in the present…not get too far ahead of myself," Koznick said. "I'm skiing well, and it's not just in GS but in slalom, too, so I'm psyched."

Men and women have an off day Friday, an open time built into the schedule to allow for potential weather problems, before both run slalom on the weekend with the women Saturday and the men concluding the championships Sunday.