Reinfried Herbst gave Austria their only men’s overall title of the World Cup season when he clinched the slalom crystal globe in the final race of the season yesterday.
Felix Neureuther delighted his hometown crowd by winning the race for his second career win after Kitzbuehel, Austria.
First-run leader Manfred Pranger of Austria finished second and Olympic bronze medalist Andre Myhrer of Sweden was third.
PHOTO: AFP
Herbst won the title ahead of Julien Lizeroux of France, who finished fourth. Herbst was only ninth, but he had a 43-point lead before the race and took the title with 534 points. Lizeroux finished with 512 points. The points lead changed hands several times as later starters moved up the standings.
“My nerves were shattered at the end,” Herbst said. “I have to give a very, very big thanks to Felix, his victory win helped me win the title. I was lucky today, but if you look over the season, I think I deserved it with four wins,” the 31-year-old Austrian said. “It was an important victory for the team.”
The Austrian men have struggled throughout the season and were shut out of the medals at the Vancouver Olympics. They also failed to win a downhill race.
Olympic champion Giuliano Razzoli of Italy failed to finish the first run. Ted Ligety of the US, who clinched the giant slalom title on Friday, clipped the first gate of the second run and dropped out.
Neureuther was fifth after the first run, but jumped to the top by posting the fastest second heat. He finished in a combined time of 1 minute, 43.63 seconds.
■WOMEN’S SLALOM
AFP, GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, GERMANY
Double Olympic champion Maria Riesch finished third in yesterday’s slalom at the World Cup finals to win the overall slalom title for the second season running.
Austria’s Marlies Schild, who took the silver medal at last month’s Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, won the slalom with the fastest time of 1 minute, 49.57 seconds, with Austria’s Kathrin Zettel second, 1.20 seconds back.
Schild was superb in the morning’s first run down the Gudiberg slope and finished with a lead of more than a second over her rivals. The 28-year-old continued her domination in the afternoon’s second run.
Germany’s Riesch, who won combined and slalom gold medals in Vancouver, was third 1.90 seconds back, but the 60 points she won were just enough to see her win the season’s Crystal Globe for the slalom by only three points from Zettel.
Hailing from Garmisch, Riesch was delighted to claim the overall title in her home town in the Bavarian Alps which will host next year’s world championships both on the Gudiberg and Kandahar courses.
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