Ivica Kostelic wins rain-drenched slalom; Hirscher clinches discipline title

Ivica Kostelic of Croatia won a rain-drenched World Cup slalom Sunday in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, while Marcel Hirscher of Austria clinched the discipline title after his sole rival skied out in the opening run.

Kostelic mastered the difficult conditions on the weakened Podkoren course to finish in an aggregate time of 1 minute, 45.81 seconds.

Hirscher finished 0.19 behind in second, and fellow Austrian Mario Matt came third, 0.34 behind Kostelic.

Hirscher led Felix Neureuther by 184 points going into the race, and the German was left without a chance of making up the deficit when he straddled a gate.

Alexis Pinturault of France led the field by 1.45 seconds after the opening leg, but failed to finish his second run.

The slalom was the last event before the World Cup finals start in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, on Wednesday.