Swiss Suter returns to form

Switzerland's Fabienne Suter celebrates after winning the women's World Cup super G race in Bad Kleinkirchheim January 8, 2012.

BAD KLEINKIRCHEIM, Austria (Reuters) - Third in Saturday's downhill on the same piste, Fabienne Suter confirmed her return to form when she won a women's Super-G in Bad Kleinkircheim on Sunday.

The Swiss, who turned 27 last week, clocked one minute and 9.55 seconds on the steep Austrian piste to snatch her first victory in nearly three years.

Suter, winner of three previous World Cup races - one downhill and two Super-Gs - had considered quitting last year after a poor 2010-2011 season.

"I had to be patient but I was hoping for a good result here as I like this kind of tough course," Suter said.

"I did OK in the downhill despite a mistake so I was mostly looking for a clean race today. I managed to keep the best line from top to bottom this time.

"It's a lot of emotion after such a long wait and I'm also glad that several of my team mates also did well here today."

It was Switzerland's first win this season in the women's ranks and an excellent overall performance with four Swiss in the top seven. It also stopped a run of six back-to-back wins by Austria.

Giant slalom world champion Tina Maze equaled her best Super-G result by finishing second.

But the Olympic silver-medalist missed her chance to become one of the rare skiers to have won in all five alpine disciplines by 0.34 seconds.

She said: "It's nice to see that I found better form in the Super-G after struggling in the previous races. I was hoping for this as the difficult course here suits my style. I skied the lower part really well."

Austria's Anna Fenninger was third, 0.74 off the pace.

Hot favorite Lindsey Vonn, weakened by a stomach bug, finished 1.53 behind Suter in a disappointing 18th place. It was her worst result in a Super-G since February 2008.

The American retained her comfortable lead in the World Cup overall standings but will be wary of improving Maze, now scoring big points in all disciplines.

(Editing by Dave Thompson)