Bansko, Bulgaria – Warren, Vt.’s Nolan Kasper and Ted Ligety, of Park City, Utah, produced strong second runs on Sunday to finish sixth and seventh at an Audi FIS Alpine World Cup slalom in Bansko that saw Austrian Marcel Hirscher win.

Kasper, standing 23rd after the first run, laid down the second fastest final run as Ligety landed in the top-10 for the second straight race. Hirscher was unbeatable in Bansko and climbed within 18 points of World Cup overall leader Ivica Kostelic of Croatia, who is currently disabled following knee surgery earlier this month. It was the second straight slalom top 10 result for Ligety.

“It’s good to get another result in slalom. It’s been a little up and down but its always nice to get a top 10,” he said. “Yesterday was a bummer but I just let that go. It’s not something I can worry too much about.

“The snow was good in some places and crumbly in some places. It didn’t hold up that well but it was what it was. It was not great snow here,” Ligety added.

“They did a nice job on the second run definitely. For Nolan (Kasper) picking up the pace again and seeing both those guys in the top 10 is exciting,” said Mike Day, Technical Head Coach for the U.S. Ski Team. “The first round was definitely not his best skiing as of late. I wouldn’t even say the second was but it was substantially better than the first.  He has definitely had an up and down season coming back from the hip surgery.”

Canadian ski racer Brad Spence’s hopes of qualifying for the World Cup finals will go down to the wire for the second straight year after a bittersweet day on Sunday ended with a 17^th–place finish. The 27-year-old from Calgary, Alberta, had his best first run of the season Sunday but a disappointing second effort saw him slide down the leaderboard.

Although Spence has enjoyed a consistent year on the World Cup circuit, racking up five top-20 finishes, he now needs to perform well in the last slalom race of the regular season in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, to earn the right to compete in the World Cup finals in Schladming, Austria, on March 18. Only the top 25-ranked skiers in each discipline qualify for World Cup finals and Spence is currently ranked 26^th in the world.

“I didn’t want it to come down to the last race but that’s the way it is,” said Spence, whose best result this year was a 14^th-place finish in Kitzbühel, Austria, on Jan. 22. “I was definitely happy with my first run – it was the best first run I’ve had to date – but I can’t say I’m too happy with 17^th place. You’ve got to learn from everything. I don’t know if it was a combination of holding back and also wanting it a bit too much. I was trying to make the turns faster than I should have. I was just trying to go too hard.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Bansko, Bulgaria – Feb. 19, 2012
Men’s Slalom