VAL D’ISÈRE, France — Marcel Hirscher tamed the daunting Face de Bellevarde course for a second consecutive year to claim a third World Cup victory Sunday, edging fellow Austrian Benjamin Raich in a challenging slalom that Bode Miller was unable to finish.
Hirscher, who trailed leader Manfred Moelgg of Italy by 0.2 seconds after the first run, clocked 53.06 seconds in the afternoon to win in a combined time of 1 minute, 44.70 seconds.
“I like Val d’Isère, and Val d’Isère likes me,” said Hirscher, who posted his first World Cup victory in the French Alps when he won a giant slalom last year. “This slope is very steep. There are a lot of rolls, and you need to have a very good technique to win here. And good technique is probably my best weapon.”
On a bad day for the U.S. Ski Team, Ted Ligety — who won Saturday’s giant slalom in impressive fashion — missed a gate in the second run and finished 36.44 seconds off the pace in 25th place.
