Hirscher wins slalom, stays perfect this year

ADELBODEN, Switzerland — Marcel Hirscher extended his perfect start to 2012 by winning a World Cup slalom on Sunday to pad his lead in the overall standings.

Overjoyed: Marcel Hirscher celebrates after winning a World Cup slalom event on Sunday in Adelboden, Switzerland. AP

The 22-year-old Austrian mastered rapidly worsening conditions on the Kuonisbaergli slope to beat defending overall champion Ivica Kostelic by 0.27 seconds, for a combined two-run time of 1 minute, 58.66 seconds.

"It's an incredible feeling," Hirscher said, after his third victory in four days. "I can't imagine or explain what's happening right now."

Stefano Gross of Italy trailed Hirscher by 0.99 in third. Another Italian, Cristian Deville, had shared the lead with Hirscher after the first run but had a poor second run and crossed with the ninth best time before he was disqualified for a gate violation.

Hirscher became the first men's skier to win the first three races of the year since Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark in 1978. Hirscher also won Thursday's night slalom in Zagreb, Croatia, and the classic Adelboden giant slalom on Saturday.

"I take so many risks in every race and you should ski out 50 percent of the time like that. I'm feeling great and I'm not tired during the races," Hirscher explained.

Kostelic moved up to second overall, but Hirscher's 100 World Cup points for the win put him 230 ahead, as he looks set to put together the same kind of good run in January that propelled the Croatian to the title last year.

"Your self confidence grows and it's just that you are riding on this wave of success," said Kostelic, who won seven events last January. "This is a mental thing and I think Marcel is in it right now."

Kostelic kept the lead in the discipline standings by 25 points.

Hirscher has led after the first run in all three of his victories in 2012, but trailed Kostelic by 0.03 at the second-to-last intermediate time Sunday. He found extra speed down the steep final section despite racing through snow and thickening cloud cover.

"It was all or nothing. We were at the limit of it being impossible to race on this course," said Hirscher, whose eighth career World Cup victory reversed the result of a year ago, when Kostelic edged him for victory.

Ted Ligety of the United States dropped one place to fourth in the overall standings after he skied out midway through a rough second run.

"I skied pretty bad the whole way and never found a rhythm," Ligety said after placing 21st in the first leg. "It's a tough schedule coming straight here from Zagreb without the chance to get some training in."

Nolan Kasper was the best of the Americans, retaining his ninth place from the morning as he finished 2.28 behind Hirscher. Teammate Will Brandenburg placed 22nd, 3.92 back.

Bode Miller, who won the Adelboden slalom in 2002, skied out near the end of his first run. He stayed sixth overall and can expect to collect points next weekend at nearby Wengen, where he traditionally excels.

Hirscher is sticking with his plan to skip speed events, to focus only on technical gate races.

Kostelic, who competes in all five Alpine events, said Hirscher could still win the crystal globe for the season-long overall title despite only getting points in two disciplines.

"I said, maybe two years ago, that Marcel was a contender for the overall if he dominates in the technical races, and that is what he is doing right now," the 32-year-old veteran said. "The only question is whether he can dominate until the end of the season."

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