ALTA BADIA, Italy (Reuters) - Italy's Denise Karbon celebrated her first Alpine skiing World Cup success on Saturday by winning a giant slalom in front of her home fans.  Karbon, silver medallist at this year's Alpine world championships, pipped Austrian Nicole Hosp by a mere 0.03 of a second after lying fifth following the first run on the demanding 'Gran Risa' piste.

Austrian Elisabeth Goergl, the first leg leader, finished third with a total time 0.37 slower than Karbon's two minutes 14.69 seconds.

"It's wonderful to win this race in front of my fan club and my friends from Castelrotto, which is not so far away from here, said Karbon. "I can still barely believe it."

Sweden's overall World Cup leader Anja Paerson had to be content with fourth place, kept off the podium by only .01 of a second.

France's Carole Montillet, winner of the first two downhills, came in 24th while Germany's Martina Ertl fell in the second run.

Austria's Michaela Dorfmeister was 16th and Renate Goetschl, the recent Super-G winner in Lake Louise, 21st on a disappointing day for the favorites.

The race was moved to Italy because of a lack of snow in the Czech Republic resort of Spindleruv Mlyn.

LUCKY HILL

The piste, a men's classic, had not hosted the women's World Cup since 1995 and an Italian -- Sabina Panzanini -- won then as well.

"We needed this result," said team coach Tino Pietrogiovanna. "The Gran Risa brings good luck to the Italian women. We should race here more often."

It was Karbon's second podium in three giant slaloms, the diminutive Italian finishing third in Utah's Park City last month, and could serve as a springboard for more success.

In the past she has frequently come close to victory after aggressive second runs.

"I was quite pleased by my first run today because I didn't lose so much time on the leaders despite making too many mistakes," said the 23-year-old.

"I was nervous and tense and skied too roughly. Before the race, everybody told me that I was going to win here."

"I was able to ski much better in the afternoon...I felt as comfortable and relaxed as in St Moritz (at the world championships)."

Hosp, the 20-year-old rising star of the Austrian team, showed she was back on form. She crashed heavily in the Soelden season-opener but was second in the Park City giant won by Paerson.

Paerson still leads the overall World Cup with 330 points, 64 clear of France's Carole Montillet, and is also 46 clear of Karbon in the giant slalom standings.

"To be fourth (in the race) is always the worst," said Paerson, who made a costly mistake on the second run.

"The snow was very slippery and I couldn't attack as hard as I wanted. I also had some problems with my goggles. I had tears in my eyes and I could not see the course as clearly as I wanted," she said.

Karbon's previous best World Cup result was second place in a giant slalom at Lillehammer last season.

By Patrick Lang, Reuters, Sat Dec 13,11:20 AM ET