Marcel Hirscher claims record-equalling 13th World Cup win
BySportsbeat
Updated 17/03/2018 at 15:12 GMT
Olympic champion Marcel Hirscher secured a record-equalling 13th alpine skiing World Cup win of the season in style as he triumphed in the giant slalom in Are, Sweden.
The Austrian superstar joins Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark (1978-79) and compatriot Hermann Maier (2000-01) as the only men to win 13 races in a single campaign and heads into Sunday's season-ending slalom race with a genuine chance to break the record.
Hirscher clocked 1:13.89 minutes on his first run on Saturday to lead by exactly half a second and the 59.74s he notched on the following run was enough to hold off Henrik Kristoffersen, who took silver, and third-placed Victor Jeandet-Muffat of France.
The 29-year-old had already guaranteed the fifth giant slalom crystal globe of his career and a record seventh overall World Cup title.
By finishing as runner-up in the giant slalom once again, Norway's Kirstoffersen takes the unwanted record of being the first man in a specific discipline to finish second in six World Cup races during a season without claiming a win.
Hirscher missed the entire pre-season after fracturing an ankle back in August and admits the historic amount of success he ultimately achieved in the campaign has taken him by surprise.
"This is definitely something so unreal," he said. "We were not thinking that I could win races early in the season and now it is my best season. It's unbelievable, thank you for that."
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