Austrian skier Hirscher wins third successive race

Austrian skier Marcel Hirscher rounded off a superb week with his third successive World Cup win here on Sunday in the slalom. The 22-year-old - winner of the slalom in Zagreb on Thursday and the giant slalom here on Saturday - beat home Croatian great Ivica Kostelic while Stefano Gross of Italy was third. Hirscher's victory - his fifth of the campaign - saw him extend his lead in the overall World Cup standings to 230 points ahead of the defending overall champion Kostelic. Hirscher recorded the joint fastest time of the first leg along with Italian skier Cristian Deville, but unlike the latter the Austrian was able to stay on the attack in the second run. "The conditions were execrable, worse than yesterday, just on the limit of being unskiable," said Hirscher, who is second in the slalom standings behind Kostelic. "I knew that Kostelic was ahead and the only tactic for me to unseat him was to give it a real go on the second leg," he added. "I love it when my rivals set the bar very high because that really pushes me into taking risks. "It is all or nothing. I took so many risks coming down, I cannot believe that it has worked two days running. "That gives me a lot of confidence! Even if the World Cup (title) is in my head, I will not compete in the speed events, even at Kitzbuehel."