Alpine skier Vonn goes top after St Anton double

ST ANTON, Austria (Reuters) - American Lindsey Vonn took the lead in the women's overall World Cup standings on Saturday after celebrating her second win in two days.

Vonn, who raced as Lindsey Kildow before marrying former U.S. team mate Thomas Vonn in September, followed up her gutsy win in Friday's downhill race with a deserved victory in Saturday's super-combined event.

Leading by a commanding 1.48 seconds after the day's opening downhill section, Vonn kept her cool in the slalom -- her weakest discipline -- to post a combined winning time of 2:20.28.

Germany's Maria Riesch finished second, 0.63 seconds behind Vonn, improving on her fourth place in the downhill leg with a smooth performance in the slalom.

Vonn's American colleague Julia Mancuso, a silver medalist in last season's world championship super-combined race, came in third -- just 0.02 seconds behind Riesch -- to complete an impressive weekend for the U.S. team.

Vonn and Mancuso also finished first and third in Friday's downhill with Canada's Kelly Vanderbeek coming between them on that occasion.

"That's a great Christmas present," Vonn beamed at the end of a challenging race that only 17 women managed to complete.

"I knew that a lot of racers had gone out so I just wanted to get down and finish. I skied totally relaxed and didn't take any risks. So to win after that is unbelievable."

Vonn's unexpected leap to the top of the standings was helped by the surprise exits of local favorites Nicole Hosp and Marlies Schild.

The two Austrians, who had led the rankings at the start of the day, finished second and seventh respectively in the downhill section and were expected to improve in their favored slalom discipline.

Schild, though, abandoned her run after two big mistakes, while Hosp was dumped on her hip after taking a left turn too sharply.

Vonn's double victory has given her a 55-point lead over Hosp in the overall standings, with Riesch climbing into third place, a further 30 points back.

Sweden's Anja Paerson, who surrendered the World Cup lead when she pulled out halfway through Friday's downhill, has slipped down to joint fourth alongside Schild, after skiing out during Saturday's downhill section.

(Writing by Mark Ledsom in Berne, reporting by Manuele Lang in St Anton)

(Editing by Clare Fallon)