STA, March 3, 2018 – Double Olympic champion and overall World Cup leader Marcel Hirscher from Austria clinched his 56th career World Cup victory in Saturday's giant slalom event in Slovenia's Kranjska Gora on Saturday, while the home favourite Žan Kranjec had to settle for the fifth spot, his best in the Vitranc Cup.
Hirscher outclassed the rest of the pack in the second run, increasing his lead ahead of Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen to 1.66 seconds to secure his fifth small crystal globe for the overall lead in the discipline.
France's Alexis Pinturault, who was tied with Kranjec in third after the first run, took bronze, finishing 2.51 seconds behind the winner.
This is Hirscher's third straight victory in the Vitranc Cup giant slalom and the fourth overall, while he also picked one slalom victory here.
Norway's Leif Kristian Nestvold-Haugen placed fourth, 2.78 seconds behind the winner, while Kranjec opened a 3.44 second gap to finish fifth, his best ever result on the Vitranc slope after placing 16th in 2016.
"Fifth place is a great result, but to be honest I was hoping for a podium," Kranjec said, admitting that he was under some pressure after placing third in the first run and that his desire might have got the better of his in the second run.
The 57th edition of the Vitranc Cup, the 50th for World Cup standings, will end with a slalom on Sunday when Hirscher will be looking to secure his seventh overall World Cup victory and plus his fifth in the slalom standings.
Attracting a crowd of 7,000, today's event was somewhat special as Slovenia's downhill specialist Andrej Šporn officially bid his farewell from the World Cup by speeding down the slope ahead of the second run.
Šporn announced his retirement after turning 36 in December. In his 12 seasons in the World Cup his only podium was the second place in the iconic Kitzbühl downhill event in 2010.
* Results:
1 Marcel Hirscher (Aut) 2:20.76 Min. 1:10.12 1:10.64
2 Henrik Kristoffersen (Nor) 2:22.42 +01.66 1:10.85 1:11.57
3 Alexis Pinturault (Fra) 2:23.27 +02.51 1:11.53 1:11.74
4 Leif Kristian Nestvold-Haugen (Nor) 2:23.54 +02.78 1:11.76 1:11.78
5 Žan Kranjec (Slo) 2:24.20 +03.44 1:11.53 1:12.67
6 Manuel Feller (Aut) 2:24.40 +03.64 1:12.44 1:11.96
7 Victor Muffat-Jeandet (Fra) 2:24.63 +03.87 1:12.32 1:12.31
8 Rasmus Windingstad (Nor) 2:24.69 +03.93 1:13.23 1:11.46
9 Tommy Ford (USA) 2:25.20 +04.44 1:13.28 1:11.92
10 Ryan Cochran-Siegle (USA) 2:25.51 +04.75 1:14.05 1:11.46
...
27 Štefan Hadalin (Slo) 2:27,56 +06,80 1:15,04 1:12,52
* Overall World Cup standings:
1 Marcel Hirscher (Aut) 1,394 pts
2 Henrik Kristoffersen (Nor) 1,125
3 Aksel Lund Svindal (Nor) 716
4 Alexis Pinturault (Fra) 687
5 Kjetil Jansrud (Nor) 665
6 Beat Feuz (Sui) 636
7 Andre Myhrer (Swe) 515
8 Matthias Mayer (Aut) 502
9 Dominik Paris (Ita) 466
10 Vincent Kriechmayr (Aut) 455
. Manuel Feller (Aut) 455
...
33 Žan Kranjec (Slo) 227
49 Martin Čater (Slo) 120
60 Boštjan Kline (Slo) 83
87 Štefan Hadalin (Slo) 38
96 Klemen Kosi (Slo) 32
151 Miha Hrobat (Slo) 3
* Overall giant slalom standings:
1 Marcel Hirscher (Aut) * 620 pts
2 Henrik Kristoffersen (Nor) 495
3 Alexis Pinturault (Fra) 329
4 Manuel Feller (Aut) 283
5 Matts Olsson (Swe) 259
6 Žan Kranjec (Slo) 227
7 Justin Murisier (Sui) 199
8 Leif Kristian Nestvold-Haugen (Nor) 176
9 Ted Ligety (USA) 164
10 Mathieu Faivre (Fra) 145
...
40 Štefan Hadalin (Slo) 23 
