Marcel Hirscher retakes World Cup lead after slalom win

Marcel Hirscher moved back on top of the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup overall standings with his first slalom victory of the season in Santa Caterina.

The Austrian has made an impressive start to the 2015-16 season, his success in Italy on Wednesday his fifth of the World Cup and enough to move him back above Aksel Lund Svindal by 85 points.

Last season Hirscher won seven races, but he looks well on course to eclipse that total after topping the timesheets at the end of both runs at the first event of 2016.

He was a tenth off the pace in the opening run as Alexander Khoroshilov and Henrik Kristoffersen finished marginally ahead of him.

However, Hirscher was not to be denied as he cut over two seconds off his first time to take victory by 0.21secs, the 26-year-old crossing the line in 56.11secs to give him a total time of one minute 1:54.54secs.

Kristofferson was also quicker second time, enabling him to sneak into second place and leaving Khoroshilov (+0.32secs) to settle for third.

Fritz Dopfer and Felix Neureuther (both +1.07secs) completed the top five after clocking the same overall time of 1:55.61secs, while Alexis Pinturault (+1.47secs) secured a top-10 finish.

Hirscher's win sees him close the gap in the discipline standings to just 20 points to leader Kristoffersen, while the Norwegian moves into third overall with his podium finish.