Slovenia's Tina Maze shows the crystal globe trophy of the women's alpine skiing giant slalom at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, Sunday, March 17, 2013.ALESSANDRO TROVATI/The Associated Press
World Cup winner Tina Maze ended her record-breaking season by winning the final giant slalom of the winter in Lenzerheide on Sunday.
The Slovenian, who began her remarkable season with a giant slalom victory, rounded off the campaign with her fifth win in that discipline to take her overall World Cup total to a remarkable 2,414 points.
With 11 World Cup wins, 24 podiums and a super-G world title, Maze's achievements will be hard to follow.
She crushed the previous record of 1,980 points, set last season by Lindsey Vonn, and left her closest rival Maria Hoefl-Riesch trailing 1,313 points adrift.
"This is the final win I expected. I won the first and last race of the season. It's perfect," said the 28-year-old, who had shed tears the previous day after missing out on the slalom title in the last race.
"After the disappointment yesterday, to end like this is unbelievable. I'm lost for words. Now it's time to celebrate and take some time off," she added.
Maze, who finished on the podium in every giant slalom she entered since the season opener in Soelden, clocked a combined time of two minutes and 16.67 seconds to beat world champion Tessa Worley of France by 0.35 seconds.
Worley was fastest in the morning run, but could not match the Slovenian's scorching pace in the second leg.
"I'm slightly disappointed especially after leading into the second leg. But it's a good second place and a motivation for all the work to be done in the summer," she said.
Swiss Lara Gut finished third on home snow, 1.38 seconds adrift, despite losing a pole in the final section.