Daily Times

ST. MORITZ: Marcel Hirscher was at his imperious best as he sped to victory in the slalom at the World Ski Championships on Sunday to add to his triumph in the giant slalom and silver in the combined. The 27-year-old Austrian, who also won the world slalom title on home snow in Schladming in 2013, led after the first run and went on to clock a combined total of 1min 34.75sec. That was a massive 0.68sec ahead of teammate Manuel Feller, whose silver was a career-first podium finish. Germany’s Felix Neureuther, victor in 10 World Cup slaloms and previously a silver and bronze medal winner at the last two worlds, claimed bronze, at 0.93sec. Hirscher’s victory was his sixth world gold, two coming in team events, and confirmed his status as men’s skiing’s top performer, although he only has one Olympic medal to his name – slalom silver in the Sochi Games. Only Austrian Toni Sailer (seven) has more world titles than Hirscher, who is now level with France’s Jean-Claude Killy.

Hirscher has also notched up 43 victories and 105 podiums in the World Cup and is seemingly on track to claim a sixth consecutive overall title on the season-long circuit. His slalom/giant slalom double was the first since legendary Italian Alberto Tomba achieved the feat in 1996. The Austrian also becomes the first man to claim three world medals at three different editions. In a nerve-racking race down the Suvretta course basked in sunshine, Austrian duo Marco Schwarz and Michael Matt, second and third fastest after the first run, dropped valuable seconds to eventually finish seventh and eighth. Sweden’s Mattias Hargin looked to be set for a podium place, with a healthy lead time as he dropped into the bottom section, only to ski out. Teammate Andre Myhrer, winner at last season’s World Cup finals on the same slope, came in sixth, one place behind Russia’s Alexander Khoroshilov.

There was the disappointment of another fourth place for Henrik Kristoffersen, the Norwegian having missed out on a giant slalom bronze by just five-hundredths of a second. This time around Kristoffersen, winner of five slaloms this season and considered a gold medal contender here, was 0.11sec short of a medal. Norway, in the absence of the injured Aksel Lund Svindal, finished fourth in all five of the men’s events in St Moritz. Britain’s Dave Ryding, whose second place in the Kitzbuehel slalom in January was the country’s best for a male skier since 1981, also threatened in the first run, in which he was fourth fastest. But a bad mistake on the second descent saw him clock up just the 22nd fastest time for 11th place overall.

“I just wish I could have done better,” said the Englishman.