Hirscher storms to Saalbach slalom success
Saalbach (Austria) (AFP) - Marcel Hirscher stormed back from a rare reverse the day before to win the World Cup slalom at Saalbach in his native Austria on Thursday.
The defending seven-time alpine skiing Crystal Globe holder had trailed in only sixth in Wednesday’s giant slalom, to end a run of 18 consecutive podiums in the discipline.
But the 29-year-old put that error-marred performance behind him to register his fifth win of the season and 63rd of his career to extend his lead in the overall World Cup standings.
Leading after the first run he notched up his 30th slalom success by coming in 0.38sec clear of Swiss skier Loic Meillard with Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen 0.47 away in third.
“That was one of the most difficult slaloms I’ve ever taken part in,” Hirscher, who posted a winning time of 1min 54.98sec, told Eurosport.
“It was another complicated day for me but in the end it was a great moment. With the technical team we made a good choice on equipment, compared to yesterday when we made mistakes.”
He moves on to 620 points in his chase for an eighth Crystal Globe, 268 clear of Kristoffersen. Hirscher tops the slalom standings with a 60-point cushion over the Norwegian.
His previous wins this season have come in the giant slalom and parallel giant slalom in Alta Badia, slalom in Levi, Finland and giant slalom in Val d’Isere.
Saalbach is hosting its second slalom of the season in place of Val d’Isere in France where the race on December 9 was cancelled because there was too much wind.
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