Kristoffersen wins as Hirscher limits damage

The Olympic bronze medallist, who won the first slalom of the winter in Levi, avoided the traps of the Slovenian piste to win in a combined time of one minute 41.26 seconds.

Italy's Giuliano Razzoli, the 2010 Olympic champion, was runner-up, 0.24 seconds adrift, ahead of Sweden's Mattias Hargin, a further 0.62 behind, as most of the favourites faltered.

World Cup overall leader Marcel Hirscher partly recovered from a disastrous morning run by clocking the fastest time in the afternoon but could only finish sixth, 1.13 off the pace.

"My performance was awesome. I went over the limits," said Hirscher, who was only 19th after the first leg.

"I had a problem with my boot and it's just crazy that I managed to stay in the race. It's the sort of thing that happens to you once every 20 years. I'm glad it's behind me."

Hirscher leads his only rival for his fourth overall title in succession, Norway's Kjetil Jansrud, by 164 points before the World Cup finals in Meribel next week.

The race for the slalom crystal globe remains much more open as current leader Felix Neureuther also suffered a difficult day in ninth place, 1.55 behind Kristoffersen.

The German will take a 55 point lead over his close friend Hirscher to Meribel next week.