CHAMONIX, France — Ivica Kostelic erased a huge deficit after the downhill with a quick slalom run to win a World Cup super-combined Sunday, clinching the discipline title and extending his lead in the overall standings with his seventh victory this month.
Kostelic earned his 18th career win by finishing in a combined time of 2 minutes, 57.12 seconds. Fellow Croat Natko Zrncic-Dim was 0.51 seconds back in second, and Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal was third.
“I secured the globe in the combined, and I won the race from a pretty hopeless position. And my best friend is standing beside me on the podium. You can’t get better than that,” Kostelic said.
He has won the three combined races this season and has an unassailable lead in the discipline standings. Kostelic delighted the 20,000 fans in the finish area with a backward somersault.
“Actually, I can feel it a bit in my leg,” he said, joking. “I’m not sure my gymnastics teacher would be too happy with my acrobatic jump today.”
Kostelic trailed Beat Feuz of Switzerland by 2.50 seconds after the downhill but put down a superb slalom.
“The only advantage I had for the slalom was my number, which I used the best that I could. I usually ski with a 2 or 3 percent reserve for emergency cases. But today I just went all-out,” Kostelic said.
Kostelic earned 100 points to extend his lead in the overall standings to 475 points over Silvan Zurbriggen of Switzerland, who was fifth Sunday.
• Austrian Georg Streitberger, who won at Beaver Creek in December, fractured his left shinbone in a downhill crash and will miss the rest of the season.
Women’s races snowed out.
The women’s World Cup downhill and super-combined events were called off after a snowstorm and thick fog in Sestriere, Italy. There was no indication when the races might be made up, but it likely will be after the world championships, which begin Feb. 8 in Germany.
