Zagreb, Croatia – First run leader Jens Byggmark of Sweden was dominated by a heavily rutted slalom course and nearly went out on Sunday in Zagreb, opening the door for Austrian Marcel Hirscher to become king of the Snow Queen Trophy with the World Cup victory for the second consecutive year. Reigning slalom champion Andre Myhrer of Sweden was second ahead of Austrian Mario Matt.
“Its amazing, Myhrer was having an amazing run and I was watching it from the start so I decided to give it more then 100 percent,” Hirscher said. “Zagreb is such an amazing race, so my second victory here is something special. The crowd was amazing, and this is one of my top three favorite World Cup races.”
It was Hirscher’s third win and ninth podium of the season to extend his lead in the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup slalom standings and reclaim the overall lead from Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal, who did not race.
Dartmouth Ski Team alum David Chodounsky, of Crested Butte, Colo., sliced through fog and rain with the sixth fastest final run to lead the U.S. Ski Team with 18th. It was Chodounsky’s second top 20 this season after posting a career best 15th in Val d’Isere, France last December.
“The first run was really tough, I did all I could and tried to be solid. In the second run, I tried to charge,” said Chodunsky. “The top was pretty good and I let it run on the flats. But I lost time on the flat where you don’t want to.”
The rain and fog combined for a rapidly deteriorating course which produced 31 DNFs in the first run including U.S. Ski Team members Ted Ligety, Will Brandenburg and Michael Ankeny.
“The difficulty was the fog. In the first run a groove developed a little bit late in the turn and it wasn’t really that big, but the guys couldn’t see it at all and they were getting caught by it because it was in a different spot on the turn than typical. That’s why the first run was so rough,” explained U.S. Ski Team coach Sasha Rearick. “The second run snow conditions weren’t all that different except the guys could see, so they could actually ski race at a high level.”
The next stop on the men’s World Cup tour is Adelboden, Switzerland – the only major giant slalom Ligety has yet to win.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Zagreb, Croatia – Jan. 6, 2013
Men’s Slalom
| Rank | Bib | Name | Year | Nation | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total Time | FIS Points |
| 1 | 3 | HIRSCHER Marcel | 1989 | AUT | 58.66 | 57.51 | 1:56.17 | 0.00 |
| 2 | 7 | MYHRER Andre | 1983 | SWE | 59.17 | 57.57 | 1:56.74 | 3.04 |
| 3 | 10 | MATT Mario | 1979 | AUT | 59.15 | 58.11 | 1:57.26 | 5.82 |
| 4 | 2 | GROSS Stefano | 1986 | ITA | 58.79 | 58.53 | 1:57.32 | 6.14 |
| 5 | 6 | NEUREUTHER Felix | 1984 | GER | 59.20 | 58.28 | 1:57.48 | 6.99 |
| 6 | 14 | PINTURAULT Alexis | 1991 | FRA | 59.54 | 57.96 | 1:57.50 | 7.10 |
| 7 | 13 | MOELGG Manfred | 1982 | ITA | 59.84 | 58.06 | 1:57.90 | 9.23 |
| 8 | 4 | KOSTELIC Ivica | 1979 | CRO | 58.88 | 59.07 | 1:57.95 | 9.50 |
| 9 | 21 | MISSILLIER Steve | 1984 | FRA | 1:01.14 | 57.37 | 1:58.51 | 12.49 |
| 10 | 15 | THALER Patrick | 1978 | ITA | 1:01.04 | 57.51 | 1:58.55 | 12.70 |