Austria’s Reinfried Herbst claimed his second win of the season in the men’s World Cup slalom on Monday ahead of Switzerland’s Silvan Zurbriggen and Austria’s Manfred Pranger.
Herbst, the Olympic runner-up in 2006, finished 0.08 seconds ahead of Zurbriggen with Pranger at 0.17, to secure the seventh success of his career. The 31-year-old won the season opener on Nov. 15 at Levi, Finland.
“I was surprised by my victory at Levi, here I came to win,” Herbst said. “Of course, I trained well this summer but these two victories are beyond my expectations. It’s really a fantastic start to the season.”
PHOTO: EPA
Austria’s Benjamin Raich holds the overall World Cup lead despite failing to finish the second run. He finished third in the first run behind Pranger and Herbst respectively.
Zurbriggen achieved his first podium since the slalom at Sestriere, Italy, in December 2004.
“It’s a surprise, but I knew I was skiing very fast. I’m really happy to have achieved the best time of the second run,” said Zurbriggen, who skipped the downhill at Val Gardena to concentrate on his best discipline. “I won’t race in the downhill in Bormio [next week] to prepare for the six slaloms in January as well as the super-combined at Wengen and combined at Kitzbuhel.”
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