France’s Tessa Worley made the best of tricky weather conditions to win her second giant slalom in succession in the Alpine ski World Cup yesterday in St Moritz, Switzerland.
The winner in Aspen, Colorado, two weeks ago, Worley fought back from fifth place in the first run to win in a combined time of 2 minutes, 10.70 seconds.
Finn Tanja Poutiainen finished second by the slimmest margin of 0.01 seconds, while Slovenia’s Tina Maze was third, 0.31 seconds adrift.
PHOTO: EPA
Germans Vitkoria Rebensburg and Kathrin Hoelzl, the Olympic and world champions, had been fastest in the first run, but were hampered by the strong winds which forced the start of the afternoon run to be delayed by an hour.
Rebensburg, winner of the first giant slalom of the season in Soelden, finished 10th, while Hoelzl missed a gate on the second leg.
Their compatriot Maria Riesch retained the World Cup overall lead on 514 points despite crossing the line in 19th.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Saturday’s super-G due to take place in the Swiss resort was called off because of snow and wind and will now be held in Val d’Isere, France, on Friday.
MEN’S SLALOM
AP, VAL D’ISERE, FRANCE
Marcel Hirscher claimed a third World Cup win yesterday, edging fellow Austrian Benjamin Raich by 0.31 seconds in a challenging slalom in Val d’Isere, France.
Hirscher, who was fourth after the first run, clocked 53.06 seconds in the afternoon to win in a combined time of 1 minute, 44.70 seconds.
Frenchman Steve Missillier, who was lagging 1.80 seconds behind after the first run, came back impressively on his 26th birthday with a third-place finish, 0.56 seconds back.
Competitors with late start numbers — including Hirscher — had to ski into shade on the upper part of the course and had to cope with a quickly deteriorating Face de Bellevarde course.
Manfred Moelgg of Italy led after the first run with a time of 51.44 seconds.
Hirscher claimed his first World Cup win last year when he won a giant slalom on the same course.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
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