Stylish Hirscher clinches Swiss double slalom

Austria's Marcel Hirscher won a second race of the weekend on Sunday, adding a slalom victory to a giant slalom triumph 24 hours earlier for a 52nd career World Cup win with a classy display on the steep, tightly-gated Adelboden slopes.

Hirscher timed 1min 50.94sec with his compatriot Michael Matt, younger brother of the 2014 slalom gold medallist Mario Matt, second at 0.13sec down the soft, ski-rutted run. Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen was narrowly edged into third at 0.16sec.

On a relatively warm day in rutted conditions Hirscher took his foot off the gas on the second run of what is considered a tough, steep course, but still had enough to cruise to a seventh win of the season, three in slalom and four in giant slalom.

It is the kind of form that will make him the man to beat out in Pyeongchang for February's Winter Games, as he seeks a first individual Olympic gold.

The win extends the 28-year-old's overall World Cup tally to 774, ahead of Kristoffersen in second at 660, and 354 to 295 over the same man in the slalom standings.

Hirscher is closing in on Austrian Hermann Maier's total of 54 World Cup wins, but is still far behind the record of 86, held by Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark.

Source: AFP