Hirscher breaks Tomba’s mark
La Villa, Italy — Marcel Hirscher dominated both runs to take a record fifth straight win in the Alta Badia giant slalom on Sunday.
The Austrian finished a massive 1.70 seconds ahead of Norwegian rival Henrik Kristoffersen, with Zan Kranjec of Slovenia 1.82 behind in third for his first podium result.
While Hirscher dropped some time in the lower portion of his opening run, he was flawless in his second trip down, increasing his advantage at every interval.
"Once I felt good with my setup in the second run, I could really attack and turn on the turbo," Hirscher said.
At the finish, Hirscher let out a big scream then took off his right glove and held up his hand and five fingers to celebrate the record.
Hirscher broke a tie with Italian great Alberto Tomba — the pair had four GS wins each on the challenging Gran Risa course.
Hirscher, the six-time defending overall World Cup champion, also won a slalom in Badia in 2011.
• Anna Veith felt overwhelming relief after proving she can fight her way back to the top.
She won a World Cup super-G race on Sunday at Val d'Isere, France, long after last tasting victory in giant slalom at the French resort of Meribel in March 2015.
The Olympic super-G champion's comeback has been as much mental as physical.
She went to hospital in March to have the patellar tendon in her left knee surgically repaired.
That was not long after she had returned in December 2016, following more than one year out having seriously damaged her right knee in a training crash.
"When I think back to the days when I was just on the floor, so many days when I didn't know if it was possible to get back into race mode or not," the 28-year-old Austrian said. "You have to be mentally very strong. When you're injured it's hard to stay in that mode, and for me it was important to get back in that race mode, mentally. I know I have it now."
It was her 15th World Cup race win.
Veith has three world championship golds. She clinched overall World Cup titles in 2014 and 2015, before injury and self-doubt followed.
Four-time World Cup winner Lindsey Vonn pulled out of the race because of soreness in her knee. She won Saturday's super-G on the same course for her first win of the season and record-extending 78th of her career.