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ALTA BADIA, Italy — Croatia’s Ivica Kostelic won a World Cup slalom Monday for his second podium finish in two days on the Gran Risa course.
The top American finisher was Ted Ligety in 12th place. Bode Miller split a gate during the opening run and was disqualified.
Kostelic won with a combined time of 1 minute, 39.83 seconds. He placed second in the traditional giant slalom Sunday, his best result in the discipline. He now has won eight slaloms, calling this the best weekend of his career.
“It’s the first time that I’ve been on the podium twice in a row,” he said.
France’s Jean-Baptiste Grange of France finished second, 0.20 seconds behind, despite having the fastest second run. He won the season’s opening slalom in Finland.
“I’m really pleased,” Grange said. “Today, Ivica was just beyond reach. He’s skiing very confidently in three disciplines.”
Olympic slalom champion Benjamin Raich was third, 0.80 back. The U.S. also got a strong showing from Tim Jitloff of Reno, Nev., who was a career-best 15th.
Kostelic spent the weekend with his sister, Janica, the retired ski star.
“I listen to what she has to say. We’ve been talking a lot about tactics in the second run and inspection,” he said. “She’s one of the best skiers in history and I would be stupid to ignore her.”
Grange retained his lead in the slalom standings with 180 points. Kostelic is next with 145 and Miller, the defending overall World Cup winner, is third with 80.
Miller finished second in Levi, Finland, for his best slalom result in four years. He was skiing well again on the upper section, matching Kostelic’s time at the first
checkpoint. The New Hampshire skier then cut a gate too close for his second unfinished race in two days and his sixth in 13 events this season.
“He was skiing fine and then he just hooked his tip,” said Forest Carey, the coach of Miller’s independent team. “It sounds like a broken record but it was another tough break.”
Miller was heading to Paganella in the nearby region of Trentino for some training. He then will travel to Bormio on Thursday before the year’s final downhill Sunday.
Current overall World Cup leader Aksel Lund Svindal was 34th in the opening run, failing to qualify for the second leg. Svindal holds a 430-393 lead over Raich in the overall standings.
Several other slalom specialists also failed to finish the first leg, struggling on the hard snow. Among them were Mario Matt, Reinfried Herbst and Manfred Pranger of Austria, last year’s runner-up Felix Neureuther of Germany and Jimmy Cochran of the U.S.
Monday’s race originally was scheduled for Val d’Isere, France, but was postponed because of heavy snow in the French resort this month.
The top American finisher was Ted Ligety in 12th place. Bode Miller split a gate during the opening run and was disqualified.
Kostelic won with a combined time of 1 minute, 39.83 seconds. He placed second in the traditional giant slalom Sunday, his best result in the discipline. He now has won eight slaloms, calling this the best weekend of his career.
“It’s the first time that I’ve been on the podium twice in a row,” he said.
France’s Jean-Baptiste Grange of France finished second, 0.20 seconds behind, despite having the fastest second run. He won the season’s opening slalom in Finland.
“I’m really pleased,” Grange said. “Today, Ivica was just beyond reach. He’s skiing very confidently in three disciplines.”
Olympic slalom champion Benjamin Raich was third, 0.80 back. The U.S. also got a strong showing from Tim Jitloff of Reno, Nev., who was a career-best 15th.
Kostelic spent the weekend with his sister, Janica, the retired ski star.
“I listen to what she has to say. We’ve been talking a lot about tactics in the second run and inspection,” he said. “She’s one of the best skiers in history and I would be stupid to ignore her.”
Grange retained his lead in the slalom standings with 180 points. Kostelic is next with 145 and Miller, the defending overall World Cup winner, is third with 80.
Miller finished second in Levi, Finland, for his best slalom result in four years. He was skiing well again on the upper section, matching Kostelic’s time at the first
checkpoint. The New Hampshire skier then cut a gate too close for his second unfinished race in two days and his sixth in 13 events this season.
“He was skiing fine and then he just hooked his tip,” said Forest Carey, the coach of Miller’s independent team. “It sounds like a broken record but it was another tough break.”
Miller was heading to Paganella in the nearby region of Trentino for some training. He then will travel to Bormio on Thursday before the year’s final downhill Sunday.
Current overall World Cup leader Aksel Lund Svindal was 34th in the opening run, failing to qualify for the second leg. Svindal holds a 430-393 lead over Raich in the overall standings.
Several other slalom specialists also failed to finish the first leg, struggling on the hard snow. Among them were Mario Matt, Reinfried Herbst and Manfred Pranger of Austria, last year’s runner-up Felix Neureuther of Germany and Jimmy Cochran of the U.S.
Monday’s race originally was scheduled for Val d’Isere, France, but was postponed because of heavy snow in the French resort this month.
