KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia — Mario Matt of Austria won his second straight World Cup slalom race Sunday and Nolan Kasper of the U.S. had the fastest second run to finish in a tie for second, a career-best showing.
Matt was fifth after the opening run and finished in a combined time of 1 minute, 49.19 seconds for his 12th career victory. The Austrian also won in Bansko, Bulgaria, last week.
“I had the self-belief to fully attack, that makes ski racing a pleasure for me,” Matt said.
Kasper and Axel Baeck of Sweden both finished on the podium for the first time, sharing second place, 0.09 behind Matt.
Kasper is the first American to reach a men’s World Cup slalom podium since Bode Miller in November 2008 in Levi, Finland.
“I had two really good runs,” Kasper, of Warren, Vt., said. “(Matt) is one of the best guys in the world . . . so I am not disappointed at all. It’s more than I could hope for that I can compete at this level with these guys.”
Two months ago, Kasper was struggling with confidence as he had failed to finish a race until then. He was relegated to the lower-ranked Europa Cup circuit, where good results kickstarted his season.
“I think it’s a mental aspect,” he said. “I had been doing well in training, but struggling in the races. So I took some time off . . . and finally found the right gear in the races.”
Kasper has qualified for the season-ending slalom, where only the top 25 racers take part.
“My hope today was to ski well enough to make it to the World Cup final,” he said. “Obviously I am skiing well and I don’t want the season to end right now. To come out and ski that fast is a lot of fun.”
Discipline title favorites Ivica Kostelic and Jean-Baptiste Grange both failed to score points after being disqualified for straddling a gate, meaning the slalom title will be decided at the season-ending race in two weeks.
