Alpine skiing-Firsts for Ganong and Hector at year end

By Patrick Lang SANTA CATERINA, Italy, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Sweden's Sara Hector and American Travis Ganong treated themselves to belated Christmas presents with their first World Cup wins in a women's giant slalom and men's downhill respectively on Sunday. Hector, 22, won a rescheduled race in the Austrian resort of Kuehtai, narrowly beating local World Cup holder Anna Fenninger and slalom Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States. Hector's combined time of two minutes and 17.61 seconds confirmed the strength of a Swedish women's team that celebrated Maria Pietilae-Holmner's slalom win on home snow in Are earlier this month. "I'm very lucky to be part of a great team. No one lets the others down, we take care of each other and we have great fun, which I believe is the key," said the Swede, a giant slalom junior world champion in 2011. The all-rounder had her World Cup debut hampered by a crash and facial injuries in 2012 that affected her confidence in speed events last season, with the skier ending a Crans-Montana downhill in tears. This season she decided to focus on technical events and the move paid off. "It was going well this season but this is a huge step forward," she said, adding she could return to downhill and super-G racing later in her career. Second-placed Fenninger finished 0.09 seconds behind while Shiffrin's podium placing, 0.18 adrift, was a morale-booster after a disappointing start to the season. The American will be favourite in Monday's final slalom of the season on the same course. In Santa Caterina, Ganong finally earned the downhill victory everyone has been expecting from one of the fastest men on the circuit. Pushed by Steven Nyman and Bode Miller in a fast improving U.S. speed team, the 26-year-old Californian beat poor visibility, bumpy terrain and early morning winds to triumph in one minute and 32.42 seconds on a shortened course. "I felt I was having strong run while cruising down the course, yet I didn't really expect to win today, it's a great way to end the year for me," he said. "It's for sure a great feeling to have finally reached that goal," said Ganong, whose Canadian girlfriend Marie-Michele 'Mich' Gagnon enjoyed her first World Cup win a year ago in a super-combined in Altenmark. Olympic champion Matthias Mayer also finished the year on a high note with second place, 0.09 behind, only two months after tearing a knee ligament in training. Italy's Dominik Paris, the most consistent speed specialist this winter, was third and 0.21 off the pace. (Additional reporting by Manuele Lang, editing by Alan Baldwin)