KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia (AP) β Olympic champion Mario Matt of Austria led a men’s World Cup slalom after the first run on Sunday.
Matt timed 52.89 seconds on the sun-soaked Podkoren course to lead Germany’s Felix Neureuther by 0.05.
Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway, who won the junior world title in the discipline four days ago, was third, 0.30 behind Matt.
Defending overall champion Marcel Hirscher of Austria finished sixth and had 0.56 to make up in the second run later Sunday.
Hirscher trails overall leader Aksel Lund Svindal by 41 points and need to finish fifth or better to overtake the Norwegian, who doesn’t compete in slalom.
Sunday’s race is the last event before the World Cup finals start in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, on Wednesday.
