Anja Paerson of Sweden followed a 10th-place morning run with a blistering second heat to win a World Cup giant slalom yesterday and extend her lead in the overall standings.

　　Paerson had a combined time of 2 minutes, 15.64 seconds down the Olympia course at Are, Sweden. It was the third straight GS win of the season for Paerson, who had already wrapped up the season title in the discipline.

　　Maria Jose Rienda Contreras of Spain was second, 0.53 seconds behind, for her best GS finish of the season. Elisabeth Goergl of Austria placed third, 0.73 back.

　　Renate Goetschl, another Austrian and Paerson's only rival for the overall title, wound up 33rd in the opening run and failed to qualify for the second run. Goetschl won the super-G on Saturday.

　　With her win, Paerson extended her lead to 123 points over Goetschl in the overall standings.

　　Paerson now has 21 career World Cup wins, including 10 this season.

　　In Slovenia, Norway yesterday won the team competition at the World Ski Flying Championships in Planica, but it wasn't decided until the very last jump when Roar Ljoekelsoey leaped 225 meters to seize victory from Finland.

　　Before the last jump, Finland had a narrow advantage of 3 points, but Ljoekelsoey - the winner of the individual competition on Saturday - landed at 225 meters, his personal best, to give his country victory with 1,711.8 points.

　　Two other members of the Norwegian team jumped their personal best: Einar Bjoern Romoeren's 227 meters - which also is the second best flying distance in history and a new Norwegian national record - and Sigurd Pettersen, who landed at 216.5 meters.

　　(The Associated Press)