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'Crazy' day for World Cup ski champ
3/16/2014 12:54:57 AM
- Austrian skier Marcel Hirscher wins men's overall World Cup title for third year in a row
- Hirscher is denied giant slalom globe after finishing fourth in Saturday's final race
- Olympic champion Ted Ligety snatches GS title on countback after fifth win of season
- American teen Mikaela Shiffrin confirms women's slalom dominance with victory
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(CNN) -- Marcel Hirscher may have come away from Sochi without a Winter Olympics gold medal, but the Austrian has confirmed his reputation as the most consistent men's skier on the World Cup circuit.
The 25-year-old clinched his third successive overall title on Saturday at the season-ending meeting in Switzerland, finishing fourth in the giant slalom.
It was enough to put him 131 points clear of closest rival Aksel Svindal Lund, who did not complete his first run.
However, Hirscher was overhauled in the giant slalom standings by Olympic champion Ted Ligety, who came from 50 points back to win the discipline for the fifth season, this time on a countback of most wins after they finished level.
"I need some time to process everything that happened today, it was a crazy race," said Hirscher, who was denied a double success when Germany's Felix Neureuther clinched third place on the final run by just 0.01 seconds.
"I'm really happy about the overall and am not really thinking about the GS cup at this point. The overall was my big goal this season and I couldn't be happier that I was able to defend it.
"I have to thank my team, I might have not been the easiest to deal with sometimes during the season but they have supported me all along."
Hirscher, whose only medal at Sochi was silver in the slalom, has the chance to win the World Cup title in that event on Sunday -- he trails Neureuther by five points.
Lund, who won the super-G and downhill titles, will not compete on Sunday in Lenzerheide.
"I am not as good now as I was earlier this winter and it's something to look at and make sure it doesn't happen next year. With the two speed titles I had a good season that could have been a great season," said the Norwegian, who left Sochi early after failing to win a medal, citing allergy problems.
Meanwhile, Olympic women's slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin capped her fine season by winning the World Cup globe as well on Saturday, retaining her title in the discipline.
The American, who turned 19 on Thursday, claimed her fifth victory this season by a stunning 1.44 seconds to become the youngest woman to win it twice and the first from outside Europe.
It put her sixth in the overall standings, where the title was sewn up by Anna Fenninger on Thursday when the Austrian finished second in the super-G.
"I guess my secret is not letting people tell me I can't do it," Shiffrin said.
"Everybody thinks that this is impossible; you can't win a race by 1.4 anymore. You can't win the Olympics at 18. People say you can't a lot and I never listen to them."
Fenninger, who won gold in super-G at Sochi and silver in giant slalom, will seek to add another World Cup globe in the latter on Sunday.
The 24-year-old is 14 points behind GS leader Jessica Lindell-Vikarby of Sweden.
Read: Ligety and Shiffrin set new World Cup records
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