MERIBEL, France – Norwegian racer Henrik Kristoffersen won the men’s giant slalom race at the season-ending World Cup finals in convincing style Saturday, while Marcel Hirscher became the first skier to win four consecutive men’s overall titles after placing fourth.
Kristoffersen led Germany’s Fritz Dopfer by 0.08 seconds after the first run and dominated the second to finish 0.79 ahead of him and 0.97 clear of Frenchman Thomas Fanara, who was fourth in the morning.
Ted Ligety, who has won the GS crystal globe five times, led Hirscher on the first three time splits before losing time at the bottom and finishing sixth – 1.33 behind.
The 30-year-old American placed third in the GS standings this season – his eighth consecutive top-three finish.
Hirscher’s only rival for the title, Kjetil Jansrud, trailed by 60 points but the Norwegian speed specialist decided not to start in Sunday’s slalom, the final race of the season.
“This is an incredibly great feeling. It’s an extreme relief,” Hirscher said. “I have to thank Kjetil for a tough and incredibly fair competition. I am already looking forward to next season.”
Only Austrian great Annemarie Moser-Proell won more overall titles in a row – five in the early 1970s.
Jansrud had to place first or second in Sunday’s slalom to keep his mathematical chance alive – a highly unlikely feat as he had failed to score a top-10 result in the discipline for more than nine years.
The Norwegian, who won the titles in downhill and super-G this season, usually skips slaloms, the technically most demanding Alpine event.
“After the giant slalom, it was clear to us that the overall World Cup was decided,” said Norway head coach Havard Tjorhom, who announced Jansrud’s withdrawal on Saturday evening. “Marcel is a deserved winner.”
His fourth overall title put Hirscher level with fellow Austrian Hermann Maier, Gustav Thoeni of Italy and Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland. Only Marc Girardelli, an Austrian who competed for Luxembourg, won five times.
Hirscher already had locked up the discipline title in giant slalom last week, and he can add his third consecutive slalom title on Sunday.
However, he trails leader Felix Neureuther by 55 points and can win the globe only if the German finishes fifth or worse.
“In the second run (the pressure) was unbelievable. After each athlete had gone, my knees were shaking more and more,” Hirscher said. “I was getting so nervous I thought, ‘Should I laugh, or should I cry?’ It was a crazy moment, because I was worried if I would ski out.”
It was the 20-year-old Kristoffersen’s second win of the season, following the rising star’s win in slalom last weekend at the Slovenian resort of Kranjska Gora, the fourth of his young career and 11th podium finish.
“I felt in control the whole day. It was fun to ski, it felt good all the way so I could just push it,” said Kristoffersen, who now turns his focus to the Norwegian national championships. “There’s no time for breaks in this game.”
He said he is not ready yet for super-G events.
“I think I need to gain a few kilos before I can look at speed skiing,” Kristoffersen said. “For the moment I’m going to stick to slalom and GS.”
Hirscher put pressure on the front-runners as he overtook Frenchman Victor Muffat-Jeandet’s time to take the lead.
