Ivica Kostelic used a surging slalom run to win a World Cup super-combined race yesterday.
The Croatian slalom specialist trailed first-run leader Beat Feuz by almost three seconds in downhill, but edged the young Swiss skier for victory by 0.2 seconds. Kostelic had a combined two-run time of 2 minutes, 42.16 seconds.
Bode Miller of the US was third, trailing Kostelic by 0.45 seconds after being second-fastest in the downhill.
The result was unofficial as lower-ranked racers had yet to start their slalom run.
Kostelic’s 21st career World Cup win closed the gap on Marcel Hirscher of Austria in the overall standings. Hirscher did not enter yesterday’s race and he is scheduled to compete next in tomorrow’s slalom.
Feuz led Miller in the opening downhill portion.
The Swiss finished in 1 minute, 50.45 seconds on a shortened, 3.1km Lauberhorn course to lead Olympic super-combined champion Miller by 0.78 seconds.
Miller won this event in 2010, one month before the Vancouver Olympics, and the American has a more solid slalom background than Feuz, who placed 12th in the Wengen super-combined last year.
Adrien Theaux of France, another downhill specialist, was third.
Christof Innerhofer of Italy, last year’s world championships silver medalist, was a further 0.01 seconds back, though he played down his expectations in slalom.
“After my crash two months ago, my coordination in slalom is not so good,” Innerhofer said.
Kjetil Jansrud of Norway, the Olympic giant slalom silver medalist, trailed Feuz by 1.8 seconds in 10th, but he also questioned his form.
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