Marcel Hirscher of Austria won the men's World Cup slalom race here on Monday ahead of Olympic champion Giuliano Razzoli of Italy and Germany's Felix Neureuther.
Hirscher was already fastest after the first leg, 00.11 seconds ahead of Ivica Kostelic of Croatia and Razzoli, and he increased his winning margin to 00.56sec on the second run as the Italian took second place.
"It's difficult to keep a cool head when you're in front after the first leg," admitted Hirscher.
"But I skied at 110 percent and I have to say that, at the moment, I'm on the right side of the razor blade in terms of luck.
"After my accident in the giant slalom in Hinterstoder in February (when he fractured his ankle), I took my time to recover. Then I trained well over the summer. And I came back with desire."
It was a fifth World Cup win for the 22-year-old Austrian, who also took over as overall World Cup leader with 425 points, ahead of Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway (416 points), who crashed out on the first leg.
Hirscher had previously won this season in the giant slalom at Beaver Creek, Colorado.
"It's the first time that I've been at the top of the overall standings in the World Cup," he said.
"But it's not important, at least for the moment. I wasn't thinking about it two months ago, and no-one mentioned me among the contenders anyway.
"I'll keep going forward, race by race."
Razzoli apart, three other Italians managed to place in the top eight skiing on home snow, with Kostelic slipping back to fifth behind the podium placers and Andre Myhrer of Sweden, who moved up from seventh to fourth.
"I'd never been on the podium before in Italy," said Razzoli.
"So this first time is fantastic, particularly after all the setbacks I've had in recent weeks: the shoulder injury after my fall in training at the end of November, the trip to Beaver Creek to race in the slalom, where I picked up a throat infection. So no, I wasn't expecting this podium."
The slalomers are back in action on Wednesday at Flachau in Austria.
Copyright 2011 AFP Global Edition
