ÅRE (SWEDEN) - World number one Marcel Hirscher of Austria won the men's alpine skiing World Cup slalom at Are on Sunday, edging Felix Neureuther of Germany in a gripping second-leg finish.
Marcel Hirscher of Austria competes during the first run of the men's World Cup slalom in Are, Sweden, on December 14, 2014
The win completed a fine double for the Austrian as he came first in the giant slalom race on Saturday ahead of Ted Ligety of the United States.
Hirscher, who was second 00.25 seconds behind Neureuther after the first run, produced a typically superb second run to ease ahead by just 00.10 seconds.
Third place went to Alexander Khoroshilov, the first Russian to mount a World Cup slalom podium in 33 years.
The 100 points for the win gave Hirscher, the defending champion, the lead in the overall World Cup standings 28 points ahead of Norwegian speed merchant Kjetil Jansrud of Norway.
It was his 26th World Cup race win bringing him level with legendary Austrian Franz Klammer on the all-time list.
"Winning by just a tenth of a second means you cannot really say that I was better or not as good (as Neureuther)," Hirscher said.
"We all gave the maximum and it could just as well have been Felix that ended up the winner.
"It's suprising but also very good to see Alexander (Khoroshilov) do so well."
The last Russian to get onto a World Cup podium was in March, 1981 when Aleksandr Zirov won a giant slalom race in Laax, Switzerland.