Austria’s Hirscher gets 1st World Cup victory, winning GS that Miller skips with ankle injury

Hirscher wins GS that Miller skips with injury

VAL D’ISERE, France — Marcel Hirscher of Austria claimed his first World Cup victory on Sunday, winning a giant slalom in the French Alps that Bode Miller skipped after spraining his ankle playing volleyball.

Hirscher led after the first run on the challenging Face de Bellevarde course and finished in a combined time of 2 minutes, 16.28 seconds. Massimiliano Blardone of Italy was 0.77 seconds off the pace and Benjamin Raich of Austria was third, 1.32 back.

The U.S. team said Miller didn’t want to take the risk of aggravating the injury by competing in the GS. The two-time World Cup champion is expected to race four events next week in Italy, at Val Gardena and Alta Badia.

The team released a statement that said the 32-year-old Miller hurt his ankle in “dryland training.” Later, a team spokesman said the injury occurred in a volleyball game.

Ted Ligety was the top American, finishing 10th after posting the second run’s best time of 1:09.86. Ligety had a runner-up finish in the super-G on Saturday, but made two costly mistakes in the first run Sunday to end of any hopes of a fifth World Cup win.

“It’s still not a perfect day,” Ligety said. “I’m pretty stressed so far, making all these mistakes in every single race.”

It was Austria’s third win in as many days after Raich’s triumph in Friday’s super-combined and Michael Walchhofer’s victory in the super-G.

The 20-year-old Hirscher was awed to have beaten Raich, his idol growing up.

“To finish first on such a difficult course and be congratulated by Benni (Raich) at the end, it’s just unreal,” Hirscher said of the skier he used to watch on TV when he was a kid.

Hirscher had earlier this week posted the best result of his career by finishing second in a super-combined behind Raich, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and former World Cup champion.

“Marcel has a great future,” said Raich, who overtook Carlo Janka of Switzerland to become the World Cup overall leader. “I’m really impressed and proud of him. It was even more difficult for him after posting the best time of the first run.”

Hirscher led after the first run and kept attacking in the second on an icy course.

“My legs were burning but I kept fighting,” Hirscher said. “I took all the risks and I gave more than 100 percent. This is one of the most difficult courses on the circuit, so this is obviously a very important win”

Janka fell after a few gates in the first leg on a hill where he clinched the last season’s giant slalom world title.

Raich leads overall with 486 points, 26 more than Janka.

The 23-year-old Swiss fell after a few gates in the first leg on a hill where he clinched the giant slalom world title earlier this year. He also fell in the super-combined and skied out in the super-G.