Marcel Hirscher edges Kristoffersen to win World Cup giant slalom

Marcel Hirscher edged Henrik Kristoffersen for victory yet again in a World Cup giant slalom on Saturday, and rose to third on the men’s all-time wins list.

Taking a wild ride down the steep final slope, first-run leader Hirscher finished 0.17 seconds ahead of his Norwegian rival for his third GS win this season.

Kristoffersen has been runnerup each time in a rivalry that shapes as one of Alpine skiing’s best heading into the Pyeongchang Olympics next month.

Hirscher hung on for the win despite losing speed, and most of his half-second lead, taking a wide line cresting the slope down to the finish area.

He went wide again a few gates from the end and, on crossing the finish line, fell to the snow as if in disbelief that he won.

“Once again the luck was on my side,” Hirscher said in a finisharea interview broadcast to a crowd of 31,000 for the classic Swiss race.

Kristoffersen smiled wryly for the cameras on being runner-up for the sixth time this season — four of them behind his big rival. He has yet to win and is currently second to Hirscher in three different season-long standings.

Alexis Pinturault of France placed third Saturday, trailing 0.21 behind Hirscher, the six-time defending overall champion.

Hirscher extended his lead in the overall and giant slalom season standings from secondplaced Kristoffersen.

With his 51st career World Cup win, the 28-year-old Austrian broke a tie with Alberto Tomba that lasted only two days. Hirscher won a slalom Thursday at Zagreb, Croatia.

Hirscher now trails only his fel- low Austrian Hermann Maier (54) and Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark (86) on the wins list 51 years after the World Cup began.

A sixth career win at Adelboden also lifted Hirscher over Stenmark’s five on the Chuenisbaergli hill. However, when Stenmark raced in the 1970s and ‘80s, the course staged only a giant slalom.

Hirscher and Kristoffersen will start favorites in slalom on Sunday.

Olympic champion Ted Ligety skied out in the second run on a darkening course after being eighth fastest in the morning sunshine.

Fans packed the stands in record numbers for one of Switzerland’s favorite sports events after overnight repairs to rebuild a section of the main road into Adelboden. It was damaged by the Eleanor storm that swept across Europe in midweek.