Jansrud edges out Svindal for parallel GS win

Norway's Kjetil Jansrud won Monday's inaugural men's parallel giant slalom in the alpine skiing World Cup at Alta Badia, denying compatriot Aksel Lund Svindal a sixth victory of the season.

Jansrud and Svindal advanced from an initial 32-man field to set up an all-Norwegian showdown at the Italian resort, with Jansrud earning his first victory since March.

"I've tried to beat him all year. I've been close a few times, but never really gotten there, but it's a little absurd to finally beat him now in a new parallel discipline," Jansrud told fis-ski.com.

Sweden's Andre Myhrer clinched a first podium finish in almost two years after edging out Germany's Dominik Schwaiger for third place.

However, defending four-time overall champion Marcel Hirscher suffered an early elimination after missing a gate on his opening run.

Henrik Kristoffersen, Felix Neureuther and Ted Ligety also failed to advance from the first knockout round, which featured two timed runs, before the competition adopted a one-run winner-takes-all format.

Svindal reclaimed the overall lead from Hirscher, just a day after the Austrian became the first skier to win the challenging Alta Badia giant slalom three years in a row.

Having missed the entire 2015 World Cup season with a ruptured Achilles, Svindal goes into Tuesday's slalom at Madonna di Campiglio with a 57-point lead over Hirscher with Jansrud third, 193 points behind his countryman.
Source: AFP