Skiing: Big win for Kostelic

Ivica Kostelic clinched the Wengen slalom for the fourth time in his career as he closed the gap on World Cup leader Marcel Hirscher.

Ivica Kostelic clinched the Wengen slalom for the fourth time in his career on Sunday as he closed the gap on World Cup leader Marcel Hirscher. The Croat stood third after the first leg, but he outclassed the rest of the field in the second run to win his third slalom of the season in a combined time of one minute 45.67 seconds. The 32-year-old has now won six races in Wengen, including three slaloms in succession. His day was made even better by the fact that Hirscher - who was comfortably the quickest skier in the morning run - was disqualified for narrowly straddling a gate, thus allowing Kostelic to move within 30 points of the Austrian in the overall standings. Sweden's Andre Myhrer was second, 0.85 of a second behind, while Germany's Fritz Dopfer secured his first-ever slalom podium a further 0.03 of a second off the pace. Austria's former world champion Mario Matt, fastest in the morning run, ended up in fourth place. "I don't know what it is between me and this course but it is obviously very strong," Kostelic stated afterwards. "I was told only Stenmark won three times in three years here and it's very special to be in such company."