WINTER SPORTS ROUNDUP : Zurbriggen Close to Fourth Cup Title

Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland took a big step toward a record-equaling fourth World Cup overall title on Sunday with a 12th in the slalom at Kitzbuhel, Austria, giving him first place in the two-day combined event.

Zurbriggen finished third in Saturday’s 50th Hahnenkamm downhill, a first-ever two-run event forced by poor snow conditions, and his aggregate results in the two events gave the combined title and 210 points in the overall standings.

Ole-Christian Furuseth of Norway is second overall with 168 points, followed by Armin Bittner of West Germany with 144.

A fourth overall title would equal the record of Gustav Thoeni of Italy in the 1970s.

Rudi Nierlich of Austria won the slalom with a two-run time of 1 minute 43.51 seconds, followed by Furuseth in 1:44.39 and Bittner in 1:44.44.

The top American finisher was Tiger Shaw of Stowe, Vt., who was 10th at 1:45.42, and Felix McGrath of Shelburne, Vt., who finished 11th, just ahead of Zurbriggen, in 1:45.62. Zurbriggen’s time was 1:46.57.

Zurbriggen has 49 downhill points, 39 slalom, 39 giant slalom, 33 super G and 50 combined--and the best for him is yet to come.

The season so far has been punctuated with cancellations, especially in downhills, as organizers struggle with skimpy snow conditions across Alpine Europe.

Of the top 10 racers in the overalls, only the 27-year-old Zurbriggen is a downhill specialist. Next weekend, he will get a shot at two downhills, and, another of his favorites, a super G, at the French resort of Val d’Isere.

Although Zurbriggen’s position this year underlines his considerable skills, he has been helped by the misfortune of others.

Last year’s overall title-holder, Marc Girardelli cracked up in Sestriere, Italy in December and is still out after a string of minor operations.

Girardelli’s doctor last week isolated a torn stomach muscle which had been causing internal bleeding, and although he is up and about, he will not race for several more weeks. His chances of defending the title are gone.

Alberto Tomba of Italy is back on the circuit, although still suffering from the after-effects of his Val d’Isere super G crash in December. He has little chance of being in the top rankings this season.

Also removed from the downhill competition this year is Zurbriggen’s Swiss rival, Peter Mueller, and Italy’s Michael Maier, each out for the season after coming to grief on artificially prepared snow courses.

Zurbriggen said at the beginning of the season he wanted to win at Kitzbuhel and Wengen, a downhill he has never cracked.

He was third on Saturday on the radical two-sprint downhill at Kitzbuhel, but he didn’t like the concept and said he thought it was bad for the sport. Poor snow conditions shortened the “Streif” course so drastically that organizers were forced to go to the two-run format for the first time in international competition.

The worst snow conditions in Europe in years will also cheat Zurbriggen of an attempt at the Wengen classic, one of the races moved to Val d’Isere.

Instead, the race has been moved to a course over which Zurbriggen has raced and won before, and he will be top favorite for good results in all three events next weekend.

Vreni Schneider of Switzerland, who complained of knee problems a day earlier, had the fastest time in both runs of the women’s slalom at Maribor, Yugoslavia, and widened her lead in World Cup slalom standings.

She also moved up one place to fourth in the overall standings.

Schneider was timed in 1 minute 19.93 seconds, easily beating Ida Ladstaetter of Austria, in 1:20.56, and France’s Patricia Chauvet, third in 1:20.94.

The 25-year-old Schneider leads the slalom standings with 100 points. She is followed by Claudia Strobl of Austria, who has 73 points but fell on Sunday, and two Austrians, Monika Maierhofer with 71 points and Anita Wachter with 68.

In the overall race, Wachter leads with 208 points, followed by Austria’s Petra Kronberger with 190 and Michaela Gerg of West Germany with 166. Schneider has 141 points.

For Schneider, it was her 31st World Cup victory in the slalom and her fourth of the season.

Canadian skiers Carolyne Olivier and Nicolas Fontaine posted their second straight victories in the aerial competition at the Casio North-American Freestyle event at Lake Placid, N.Y.

Olivier and Fontaine also won titles in Saturday’s aerial event.