Austria sets sight on skiing's biggest prize as Hirscher wins slalom

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Austria's Marcel Hirscher, right, celebrates with second placed Giuliano Razzoli, of Italy, after winning an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Alta Badia, Italy, Monday, Dec. 19, 2011. Austrian technical specialist Marcel Hirscher held on to his first-run lead to win the second World Cup slalom of his budding career by a large margin Monday. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

ALTA BADIA, Italy - Marcel Hirscher's slalom victory revived Austria's chances of its first overall World Cup title in five years — among the men and women.

Hirscher held onto his first-run lead and completed the Gran Risa course in a two-leg combined time of one minute 47.16 seconds to overtake Aksel Lund Svindal for the overall World Cup lead. Olympic slalom champion Giuliano Razzoli finished second, a distant 0.56 seconds behind, and Felix Neureuther of Germany was third, 0.60 back.

Svindal failed to qualify for the second run, placing 44th in the opening leg, and Hirscher moved nine points in front of the Norwegian.

"At the moment it's not important for me, because it doesn't matter in which position you are at this point in the season," the 22-year-old Hirscher said of the overall title. "It's not my first goal. It wasn't a goal for me two months ago, I never thought about it. Every race is a new race and a new chance for me. I want to go step by step. I'm still young and I have to learn a lot."

None of the Canadians qualified for the second run.

Julien Cousineau of Lachute, Que., appeared as if he might crack the top 30 and take part in the second run but made a mistake on the bottom flat and ended up 35th.

Calgary's Brad Spence was tied for 38th, ahead of Paul Stutz of Banff, Alta., in 45th and Calgary’s Trevor White in 49th. Mike Janyk of Whistler, B.C., did not compete due to a sprained ankle.

The last Austrian man to win the overall title was Benjamin Raich in 2005-06, while Nicole Hosp took the women's title in 2006-07. But Hirscher will now be expected to end the overall title drought for skiing's top nation.

"It's very big in Austria," Hirscher said. "Normally they are asking (Austria head coach) Mathias Berthold who can win and my name wasn't in this list, so I can do what I want and go step by step in my disciplines. The other guys, Benni (Raich), Romed (Baumann). They are guys for the overall."

Perhaps — although Baumann is 14th overall and Raich is just 24th.

And Hirscher won't have much time to adjust to his new expectations, with the next race a night slalom in retired Austrian great Hermann Maier's hometown of Flachau on Wednesday.

Known as the "Herminator," Maier won the overall four times between 1998 and 2004.

Hirscher's rise, however, was not unexpected. At the 2007 junior world championships in Flachau, he won the giant slalom and finished second in the slalom.

"That was pretty cool at the time," said the five-foot-eight Hirscher. "The race hill is not too difficult — normally it's a women's race."

Hirscher might want to use his same strategy from Alta Badia.

"Being in the leading position after the first run is hard for anybody, because the whole nation is thinking about you," Hirscher said. "But after a while, I talked to myself and said it was time for full gas and I skied more than 100 per cent and it was a big success for me."

Hirscher also won a giant slalom in Beaver Creek, Colorado, earlier this month, and now has five career victories. His performance this season is all the more impressive considering he broke a bone in his left foot just before last season's world championships and didn't resume training until the off-season.

"I was completely focused when I started training again after such a long break," Hirscher said. "After a few months training I told my coach, 'Oh my God, I'm so focused on skiing at the moment.'"

For Razzoli and Neureuther, finishing on the podium was somewhat of a surprise.

Razzoli has struggled with a shoulder injury recently and Neureuther dislocated his right shoulder in the off-season, then injured his right knee.

"I couldn't walk up steps anymore six weeks ago, so I was really happy to make the step up onto the podium today," said the German, the son of 1976 Olympic champion Rosi Mittermaier and Christian Neureuther, a six-time winner on the World Cup circuit.

Among those failing to finish the opening run was Olympic combined champion Bode Miller.

Likely worn down after a week of downhill training and races, Miller lost control at the second gate in the opening run, spun around backward and had both of his skis pointing straight up into the air when he hit the ground.

After coming to a stop, Miller stared back up the mountain to see what tripped him up, then skied directly to the personal bus that he uses to travel the circuit.