Austria's Thomas Stangassinger, the Olympic champion, warmed up for next month's Games in Nagano with a World Cup slalom victory in Veysonnaz, yesterday.
The Italian Alberto Tomba crashed out of the second run, denying himself a shot at his 50th career win before Stangassinger completed two superb runs down a rock-hard piste at the Swiss resort to finish with an aggregate time of 1min 38.12sec.
Stangassinger was joined on the podium by two little-known figures on the World Cup circuit - Iceland's Kristinn Bjornsson, (1:38.91) and Japan's Kiminobu Kimura (1:38.92). Hermann Maier, the World Cup leader, recorded his ninth victory of the season in the combined event.
The Austrian Renate Goetschl won the women's downhill on home soil in Altenmarkt, while Germany's Martina Ertl took the super-giant slalom.
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