Yugoslavia Scores 1-2 Slalom Sweep as Petrovic Wins

Rok Petrovic of Yugoslavia, insisting he’s still not at his best, led teammate Bojan Krizaj to a one-two sweep Sunday in the first men’s slalom race of the Alpine World Cup.

Italian Ivano Edalini finished third in 1:41.69.

Petrovic, 19, clocked a winning aggregate time of 1 minute 40.79 seconds, 74/100ths of a second quicker than Krizaj’s 1:41.53

“I wasn’t as strong today as I’d like to be. I did OK in the first part of the morning run, but I got tired farther down,” Petrovic said.

Krizaj gained the second spot after Italian Oswald Toetsch, who had the second best time, was disqualified for missing a gate.

Petrovic and Krizaj, not heavily publicized in the first slalom race of the season, slipped into the top spots ahead of favorites such as defending World Cup champion Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg and Switzerland’s double World Champion Pirmin Zurbriggen.

Girardelli missed the fifth gate on the morning run of the two-heat race, ending his day after less than 20 seconds on the course.

Zurbriggen made it through the 65 first-run gates but lost control in the afternoon run (59 gates) and fell halfway down.

Jonas Nilsson of Sweden, the World Slalom Champion, finished fourth followed by Austria’s Dietmar Koehlbicher and three-time World Cup champion Ingemar Stenmark, winner of 79 World Cup races.