IN BRIEF : 2 Austrians Win Slaloms in Japan

Thomas Strangassinger won the men’s slalom and Austrian teammate Martina Sykora took the women’s slalom in the Kneissl Cup, the fifth leg of the six-race International Ski Federation Far East Cup Japan Series.

Strangassinger, 24, winner of three slalom events in the series and the 1989 Europe Cup competition in Switzerland, Italy and West Germany, was timed in 1 minute, 34.61 seconds.

Thomas Hangl of Austria was second in 1:35.06, followed by Mathias Berthold of Austria in 1:35.34, Keiji Oshikiri of Japan in 1:35.36 and Kiminobu Kimura of Japan in 1:35.63.

In the women’s competition, Sykora, 19, was second in the first run with a time of 41.94 seconds and first in the second run with 44.14 seconds for a total time of 1:26.08.

Manuela Umele of Austria was second in 1:26.39, and Harumi Jin of Japan was third in 1:28.61.