Rome, Dec. 18 (BNA): Olympic silver medalist Zan Kranjic led the opening leg of the giant slalom Alta Badia on Sunday while overall World Cup leader Marco Odermatt struggled in ninth place.
Kranjic, the Slovenian skier, scored a huge advantage over two Norwegians, according to the Associated Press.
Henrik Kristoffersen stood 0.60 seconds behind Kranjec in second and Lukas Brathen in third, 0.73.
Odermatt, looking exhausted after several days of downhill racing in Val Gardena, ran a 1.42 to make up for the return leg later at the Gran Resa stadium.
Kranjcic fell two clutches behind at the final checkpoint but made up the time on the flat lower section.
At last winter’s Beijing Olympics, the only competitor to seriously challenge Odermatt was Kranjic, who won gold in a blizzard.
Odermatt won the first two giant slalom races of the season while Kranjec finished second and third in Sölden, Austria and Val d’Isere, France, respectively.
insignificant