Carlo Janka of Switzerland won a men’s World Cup giant slalom race on Saturday after beating Massimiliano Blardone of Italy by 0.2 seconds.
Janka finished in a two-legged time of 2 minutes, 22.73 seconds after he and Blardone had shown poise on their second runs. Gauthier de Tessieres of France took third in 2:23.17 after finishing 30th in the first run. Blardone had finished the first leg in third place, 0.22 ahead of Janka.
World Cup leader Aksel Lund Svindal missed out on a podium place after almost falling on the highly technical Bellevarde course. He finished fourth, having been in second place after the opening run.
PHOTO: EPA
Svindal was still well clear in the overall World Cup standings, with 395 points heading into yesterday’s slalom. Benjamain Raich of Austria was second with 293 points, while Janka jumped up to third place and had 291 points.
■ WOMEN’S GIANT SLALOM
AP, LA MOLINA, Spain
Tanja Poutiainen of Finland won her eighth World Cup race on Saturday, edging Manuela Moelgg of Italy by .02 seconds in the giant slalom to take the overall standings lead.
Poutiainen posted the fastest second run of 1 minute, 9.02 seconds down the Cerdanya Catalunya course for a combined time of 2:16.76 for victory after Kathrin Zettel of Austria, the leader after the first run, wiped out after catching an edge on her second run.
Nicole Hosp of Austria took third in 2:17.41 for her 45th World Cup podium finish.
It was the first-ever World Cup event held in Spain’s Pyrenees mountains, and Poutiainen collected a leg of cured ham along with the winner’s trophy.
■ SKI JUMP
AP, PRAGELATO, Italy
Simon Ammann of Switzerland set a hill record with a leap of 144m to win his third ski jump World Cup event of the season and widen his lead in the overall standings.
Ammann’s second jump through a thick fog was enough to overtake Austria’s Gregor Schlierenzauer, who had the lead after the first jump and finished second.
Finnish 18-year-old Ville Larinto climbed from ninth place after the first jump to finish third and earn his second spot on the podium this season.
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