Frenchman Grange wins men's slalom world title

France's Jean-Baptiste Grange won the men's world slalom title on Sunday with Sweden's Jens Byggmark taking silver and Manfred Moelgg of Italy claiming bronze. Grange clocked a combined winning time of 1min 41.72sec over the two legs with Byggmark at 0.43sec back, following a strong second run, and Moelgg at 0.61 behind at the world ski championships. The 26-year-old Grange, who won world slalom bronze four years ago when the championships were held in Are, Sweden, was the fastest in the first run and 10th in the afternoon down the steep and fog-hit Gudiberg course. Grange said his gold made up for the disappointment of having failed to finish the slalom two years ago on home soil, when the championships were held in Val d'Isere, France. "I'm so happy today, because it was tough in 2009 in France," he said. "I could have had two gold medals maybe, but I ended with nothing there. "It was tough to recover from that and my knee (injury). "When I saw I was first here, it was wonderful for me." Byggmark skied himself into a medal with an impressive performance on the second run having been sixth fastest in the morning. "I didn't really worry (about conditions)," said the Swede. "I just thought on the top it felt really easy to ski, actually. "It's an amazing feeling, you can't believe it. I've been struggling so hard since 2008." It is the 25-year-old's second silver medal of these world championships, having also been part of the Swedish team which finished second in last Wednesday's team event. Italy's Moelgg, who had been the second fastest in the morning, lost time on the bottom section of the course and slipped back into bronze. "At the top, I didn't have a good feeling," said a relieved Moelgg. "I just thought thought (I had) to fight against this slope, push out, push out and just get across the line." Having finished the first run at more than a second off the pace, World Cup overall leader Ivica Kostelic finished eighth at 1.16 back, one place ahead of previous world champion Manfred Pranger of Austria. Grange has been in impressive form this season having won both last month's World Cup slaloms in the Austrian resorts of Schladming and Kitzbuehel. He is second only to Kostelic in the World Cup slalom rankings this season. The men's slalom brought the curtain down on the two-week long championships.