VAL D’ISERE, France (AP) — Veteran Mario Matt of Austria safely protected his first-run lead to win a World Cup slalom race on Sunday.
It was another disappointing day for the United States. Neither Ted Ligety, who finished the first run in 39th, nor Bode Miller, who went off course, qualified for the second run.
The 34-year-old Matt, a two-time former slalom world champion, beat Sweden’s Mattias Hargin by .53 seconds and Italian veteran Patrick Thaler — second after the first run — by .78.
Matt, who was second last month in the slalom at Levi, Finland, has 15 World Cup wins — 14 in slalom and one in supercombined.
His previous win was at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, in March 2011, while his first was nearly 14 years ago at Kitzbuehel, Austria.
