Hirscher wins slalom, takes overall lead

Austrian skier Marcel Hirscher turned in a pair of sharp runs Monday in winning the slalom at Alta Badia, Italy, and moved into the overall World Cup lead. Hirscher led the competition after the first run and backed it with a perfect second run on the Gran Risa course for a total time of 1 minute, 47.16 seconds, more than half a second ahead of the field. Italy's Giuliano Razzoli was second at 1:47.72 with German skier Felix Neureuther third just 0.04 seconds behind Razzoli. The second through ninth place racers were all within 1 second of each other. Hirscher, who also has a win this season in the giant slalom, moved past Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal for first in the World Cup standings with 425 points. Svindal has 416 and American skier Ted Ligety, who was 10th Monday at Alta Badia, is third at 385. Hirscher also leads the slalom standings with 160 points. Ivica Kostelic, from Croatia, is second at 145 and Italy's Cristian Deville is third with 120. Kostelic finished fifth and Deville was sixth in Monday's race.