Velez Zuzulova wins women's slalom in Austria

Slovakia's Veronika Velez Zuzulova celebrates her victory in finish area after the women's night slalom during the Alpine skiing World cup in Semmering, Austria, on Saturday.

World Cup leader Maze finishes third
USA's Shiffrin fails to finish second run
Vonn skips race as she recovers from illness

SEMMERING, Austria (AP) — Veronika Velez Zuzulova of Slovakia upset the favorites to win a World Cup night slalom Saturday for her first career victory.

She trailed overall World Cup leader Tina Maze by 0.55 seconds after the opening leg but overtook the Slovenian after a near-flawless final run.

Velez Zuzulova finished in a combined time of 1 minute, 37.28 seconds. Kathrin Zettel of Austria was 0.10 back. Maze was third, 0.20 behind.

The rest of the field finished more than a second behind Velez Zuzulova.

Mikeala Shiffrin of the United States, who led the slalom standings going into the race, straddled a gate and didn't finish her second run.

Defending overall champion Lindsey Vonn missed the race as she is recovering from an intestinal illness, and world slalom champion Marlies Schild of Austria is out for three months following knee surgery.

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