Vancouver Games

Marlies Schild of Austria won the silver medal and Sarka Zahrobska of the Czech Republic took the bronze. Riesch dominated the first of her two runs with a 0.40-second lead on Zahrobska and 0.65 on Schild.

Both runs combines, Riesch finished with a total time of 1:42.89, nearly half a second ahead of Schild and one second ahead of Zahrobska.

All skiers had to contend with snowfall and poor visibility, but Riesch proved unshakable in the absence of long-time rival American Lindsey Vonn.

The victory makes Riesch the only athlete to win two gold medals in the Alpine events, with the men's slalom final still to come.

After winning her second gold, the 25-year-old reflected on what has been a highly successful Games for Germany's Alpine team.

"The alpine women's ski team has three gold medals, it's unbelievable. Sometimes when there's some luck on the team, everyone takes it," she said.

"I really didn't think about winning slalom gold medal. My season has not been as consistent as last year. But after my gold in the combined I had a lot of confidence."

Riesch's victory means Germany has now won nine gold medals, so far more than any other country represented at the Vancouver Games.

dfm/afp/dpa

Editor: Nigel Tandy