Felix Neureuther wins World Cup slalom race in Switzerland

Felix Neureuther won a World Cup slalom on Saturday to retake the discipline standings lead from Marcel Hirscher of Austria, who skied out of the event for the first time in three seasons.

Germany’s Neureuther rose from fifth after the first run to beat Stefano Gross of Italy by 0.20 seconds in steadily falling snow.

Olympic bronze medalist Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway was third, trailing 0.44 behind Neureuther’s combined time of 1 minute, 46.93 seconds.

In the finish area, Neureuther was greeted by Kristoffersen kneeling to bow in a show of respect before the two racers hugged.

Hirscher, who leads the overall standings, went out in the morning run and last failed to reach a slalom finish line in March 2012 in Schladming, Austria.

Neureuther earned 100 race points for his 11th career World Cup win and leads Hirscher by 44 in the slalom standings.

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Olympic champion Eric Frenzel of Germany won his second Nordic combined World Cup event in as many days after beating Austria’s Bernhard Gruber on the final 100 meters of the 10-kilometer cross-country race at Seefeld, Austria.

Frenzel accelerated with the finish in sight and clocked 25 minutes, 54.7 seconds to beat Gruber by 2.9 seconds. Tino Edelmann of Germany placed third, 14.7 behind Frenzel.

Edelmann won the ski jumping portion and, after starting first, led the cross-country race for the first seven kilometers.

Frenzel also won Friday’s first event of the so-called Nordic Combined Triple, a format which adds the results of three straight competitions. Only the top-30 finishers of Saturday’s event will be allowed to start in the final competition, which consists of two ski jumps and a 15K cross-country race.

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Johannes Thingnes Boe of Norway shot cleanly and raced superbly to win a men’s 10-kilometer sprint for his second biathlon World Cup victory of the season at Ruhpolding, Germany.

The 21-year-old Boe finished in 23 minutes, 59.2 seconds, beating Germany’s Simon Schempp by 24.5 seconds. Schempp also shot cleanly.

Another German, Arnd Peiffer, was 57.9 back in third, followed by Russia’s Anton Shipulin and Latvia’s Andrejs Rastorgujevs. They each missed one target.

Overall leader Martin Fourcade had a disappointing race, missing two targets and finishing 1:51.7 back in 26th place.

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A women’s World Cup downhill has been postponed due to heavy snowfall, delaying Lindsey Vonn’s pursuit for the all-time wins record again.

Organizers at Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy, announced the decision early Saturday, moving the downhill to Sunday and a super-G that had been scheduled for Sunday to Monday.

Vonn needs one win to match Annemarie Moser-Proell’s record of 62 victories. The American was only 10th in Friday’s downhill in Cortina, which was won by Elena Fanchini of Italy on a shortened course.