Mario Matt won his eighth World Cup slalom race on Sunday, beating Austrian teammate Benjamin Raich by 0.10 seconds.
Matt, a slalom specialist, finished in a combined time of 1 minute, 48.45 seconds after completing two perfect runs on the difficult Kuonisbaergli course.
Matt, who had a slipped disk last year, started the day with severe backache.
PHOTO: AP
"Luckily it went away during the race," Matt said.
Felix Neureuther of Germany was third, 0.14 seconds behind Matt.
"I know I can do better than this and I hope I manage to keep my form," Neureuther said.
Marc Berthod and Daniel Albrecht of Switzerland, who came first and second in the giant slalom on Saturday, went out in the first run on Sunday after heavy overnight rain and intermittent sleet during the day.
After tying for third in the first run, American Ted Ligety straddled a gate and went out in the second run.
"I think my approach was right-on, but in the slalom you're always on a line of millimeters," Ligety said after the race.
Bode Miller, who went out of the giant slalom and is fifth overall in the World Cup standings, made an error at one of the first gates, then lost his footing again further down for a second non-finish in two days.
"It's a little disappointing," Miller's coach John McBride said. "It's not like he did anything drastically wrong, he just didn't execute."
McBride said Miller would be a contender at the World Cup races in Wengen later this week if the conditions were good. The warm weather is forecast to continue until at least the middle of the week.
Kalle Palander of Finland, who is sixth in the overall World Cup standings, also fell victim to the soft snow conditions.
Rainer Schoenfelder of Austria and Manfred Moelgg of Italy finished tied for fourth, 0.69 seconds back.
Ivica Kostelic of Croatia, who was second after the first run, came sixth, 0.14 seconds ahead of seventh-place Julien Lizeroux of France.
FOUR HILLS
AP,BISCHOFSHOFEN, AUSTRIA
Janne Ahonen became the first ski jumper to win the prestigious Four Hills tournament for a fifth time on Sunday.
The 30-year-old Finn won the final stop under difficult circumstances because of rain with jumps of 126m and 136m, earning him 251.6 points in the World Cup event.
His main competitor, Thomas Morgenstern, finished third with 242.7 points, while Gregor Schlierenzauer, who was third in the standings, failed to qualify for the second leg.
"This means a lot to me," Ahonen said. "But it will be easier to understand what it really means after a couple of years."
Ahonen also won the Four Hills tournament in 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2006 when he shared victory with Jakub Janda of the Czech Republic.
"This was an amazing day. The weather was difficult, but I knew I could handle it and I was very confident for my final jump," said Ahonen, who holds 34 World Cup titles and has the record for most World Cup wins in one season -- 12 in 2004-2005.
Earlier, Ahonen speculated about retiring from the sport by the end of the season.
"Maybe, maybe not," Ahonen said. "The season is still long and I will decide after the season is over."
The event was disrupted by rain in the first leg, which caused poor conditions for some jumpers and led to the elimination of favorites Schlierenzauer, Tom Hilde, Simon Ammann and Wolfgang Loitzl.
Norway's Anders Bardal and Anders Jakobsen, who won the Four Hills tournament last year, led after the first jump, with Ahonen in third position.
Ahonen had the longest jump in the second leg, beating Morgenstern's 135.5m by 0.5m.
"I am proud to be on the same stage as Janne, who I really admire," the 21-year-old Morgenstern said.
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