Ivica Kostelic of Croatia won a World Cup slalom on the Jungfrau course yesterday for his first victory of the season.
Kostelic maintained his first-leg lead for a two-run time of 1 minute, 40.34 seconds to collect his 10th career World Cup victory.
The 30-year-old Croat returned to action on Jan. 6, less than four weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. He is also troubled by constant back pain. Kostelic, the 2002 World Cup slalom champion, dropped to his knees and kissed the snow after arriving in the finish area.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Andre Myhrer of Sweden was 0.29 back in second and Austria’s Reinfried Herbst trailed Kostelic by 0.51 in third.
Herbst extended his lead in the World Cup slalom standings over Julien Lizeroux of France, who placed fifth after winning last week at Adelboden, Switzerland.
Benjamin Raich of Austria finished fourth and closed the gap in the overall standings to 18 points behind Switzerland’s Carlo Janka.
Janka watched the race on television at home in Obersaxen after winning the classic Lauberhorn downhill race on Saturday. He holds a 757-739 lead on Raich, the 2006 overall champion.
■MEN’S SKI JUMPING
AFP, SAPPORO, JAPAN
Salt Lake City dual gold medalist Simon Ammann of Switzerland posted his fourth win of the season at the World Cup ski jumping in Sapporo yesterday.
The 28-year-old Swiss scored 293.1 points from two jumps of 139.5m and 135m, beating Japan’s veteran Noriaki Kasai in second place on 255.7 points.
It was Ammann’s 12th World Cup win since his first victory at Oslo in 2002.
Martin Koch of Austria finished third with 255.4 points.
■WOMEN’S GIANT SLALOM
AFP, MARIBOR, SLOVENIA
Austrian Kathrin Zettel notched up a memorable double yesterday when she added the World Cup slalom title to her giant slalom success 24 hours earlier.
Zettel clocked a combined total over two runs of 1minute, 42.98 seconds, 0.71seconds ahead of Slovenian Tina Maze, with Maria Riesch of Germany at 1.28 seconds, enough to leapfrog American Lindsey Vonn to the head of the World Cup overall standings.
Zettel’s teammate Marlies Schild had looked good for at least a spot on the podium after blazing the first run but straddled a gate as she forced the pace on the second.
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