Kostelic wins Kransja Gora slalom

Ivica Kostelic won his first world cup slalom race of the season on Sunday with victory in Kranjska Gora.

The 2011 overall world cup champion and three time defending combined champion had been hampered all season with a knee injury.

But the 33-year-old Zagreb native showed no signs of pain as he clocked a winning combined time of one minute 45.81 seconds to top the podium 10 years after his first victory in the Slovenian resort.

Marcel Hirscher recovered from a disappointing first run in the morning to claim second place and secure the World Cup title in the discipline.

The 24-year-old Austrian also strengthened his overall World Cup lead as he opened up an advantage of 149 points over closest challenger Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway before the Lenzerheide finals next week.

Hirscher’s Austrian teammate Mario Matt rounded off the podium in third place. The 2007 and 2011 slalom winner in Kranjska Gora was 0.34 seconds behind Kostelic.

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