By Steve Keating
BEAVER CREEK, Colorado (Reuters) - Anna Fenninger and Tina Maze each have two golds and a silver from the alpine world championships and while the two have been waging there own battle there will be no tiebreaker to decide the true ski queen.
A speed specialist, Fenninger was not at all tempted to try her luck in the women's slalom on Saturday and a chance to go head-to-head with her Slovenian rival and settle the debate on who had the best championships.
"I think you saw my slalom performance in the combined so it is not so good for me to do the slalom because there are so many girls who can do better," explained Fenninger.
"For Tina it is a chance to make a fourth medal and for me it is incredible I can reach three medals and one fourth place so I think it is the best championships ever for me."
Austria's Fenninger wrapped up her championship in style on Thursday, recovering from a near-wipeout in the second leg of the giant slalom to claim a comfortable 1.40 second win over Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg.
Fenninger's medal haul, consisting of gold in the Super-G and giant slalom and a silver in the downhill, has also put the Austrians on track for their best world championships.
One gold from either Friday's men's giant slalom or the men's and women's slalom on the weekend and the Austrian's will match their result from the 1962 worlds where they topped the podium six times.
With eight overall medals, Austria also have a chance of equaling their best ever total of 15, also set in 1962.
Instead of a golden finish, Fenninger's worlds almost ended in catastrophe within sight of the finish line.
Holding a commanding 0.90 second advantage after the morning leg, Fenninger added to her cushion in the second run when she caught and edge and almost tumbled head first over her skis before a miraculous recovery.
"I was surprised because when I made this mistake, I thought my advantage is gone," said Fenninger. "When I came to the finish line and I saw my lead was one second and 40, I can't believe it.
"Of course you don't come to an event like this and say you are going to win two, or three or four medals.
"You just execute and then it happens and I must say it went perfectly like a dream."