Marcel Hirscher of Austria won the overall World Cup title for a second straight year on Thursday when chief rival Aksel Lund Svindal withdrew from the slalom race. The Norwegian's decision followed the cancellations. due to bad weather. of a downhill race on Wednesday and a super-G race on Thursday. He had hoped to close in on Hirscher's lead of 149 points in the two specialities he excells in before tackling the slalom which is more favourable to the Austrian.

Marcel Hirscher of Austria won the overall World Cup title for a second staright year on Thursday when chief rival Aksel Lund Svindal withdrew from the slalom race. The Norwegian's decision followed the cancellations. due to bad weather. of a downhill race on Wednesday and a super-G race on Thursday. He had hoped to close in on Hirscher's lead of 149 points in the two specialities he excells in before tackling the slalom which is more favourable to the Austrian.

Croatia's Ivica Kostelic won a World Cup slalom race here on Sunday, with Marcel Hirscher of Austria finishing second to clinch the season's crystal globe in the discipline. France's Alexis Pinturault went fastest by a good margin on the first run, but he skied out on the second with victory in his sights, clearing the way for the veteran Kostelic to win a World Cup slalom for the first time since he triumphed at Wengen in January, 2012.

(Corrects number of crystal globes won in 2nd para) By Patrick Lang KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia, March 9 (Reuters) - American Ted Ligety won the Kranjska Gora giant slalom for a fifth time on Saturday to secure the World Cup in the discipline. It was the triple world champion's fourth giant slalom crystal globe and the victory on the Podkoren slope, one of his favourites on the circuit, was his fifth of the season.