MéRIBEL (FRANCE) - The battle for the women's overall title will be decided in the final race of the season as Austrian Anna Fenninger topped Slovenian Tina Maze in the first leg of the giant slalom on Sunday.
Austria's Anna Fenninger competes in the first run of the women's giant slalom at the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup finals in Meribel, France on March 22, 2015
Maze went into the last event of the season-ending World Cup finals with a narrow 18-point lead over defending champion Fenninger.
But in bad visibility down the Roc de Fer piste, it was the Austrian who set the pace in 1min 13.26sec, with Maze in second at 0.27sec, meaning the winners of the overall and giant slalom globes will be decided in the second leg.
Austrian Eva-Maria Brem, just 86pts behind Fenninger in the giant slalom standings, was third at 0.43sec.
A thrilling end to the season will see Fenninger, Maze and Brem court gamesmanship with risk management, given there are a maximum 100pts on offer for first place.