Tomba Wins World Cup Slalom Race in Norway

Alberto Tomba of Italy capitalized on his main rivals misfortunes and captured a World Cup slalom today by a whopping 1.19 seconds.

Tomba, a double Olympic champion in the slalom and giant slalom at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, had a winning time of 1 minute, 46.19 seconds.

Michael Tritscher of Austria was runner-up in 1:47.38 and former world slalom champion Jonas Nilsson of Sweden third in 1:47.49.

Tomba’s great comeback win--he was sidelined almost two months this season because of an injury--came after teammate Konrad Ladstaetter and Armin Bittner of West Germany both missed gates in the second run.

Ladstaetter, who was third just .48 seconds behind Tomba after the opening run, straddled a gate near the finish and was disqualified.

Bittner, runner-up and .33 behind Tomba after the first run, fell and dropped out on the steepest part of the course just 15 seconds into the course.

Bittner, who was going for his fifth slalom win of the season, had clinched his second consecutive World Cup slalom championship last weekend.

For Tomba, it was the second win of the season after finishing ahead of Swiss all-round star Pirmin Zurbriggen at Park City, Utah, in late November.

The 23-year-old Italian suffered a left collarbone fracture in a spill during a Super G race in Val d’Isere, France, last December and missed several World Cup races.

Thomas Stangassinger of Austria was fourth today in 1:47.56, with teammate Bernhard Gstrein next in 1:47.72. Gstrein moved to second place behind Bittner in the slalom cup standings.

Tetsuya Okabe of Japan, who competes only in slalom, was sixth in 1:47.81.

American Tiger Shaw turned in one of his best slalom races of the season, finishing seventh in 1:47.93.

Felix McGrath, the top U.S. slalom skier this season, tied for eighth after the opening run but fell back to 14th.

Zurbriggen, who last weekend tied Italian Gustavo Thoni’s all-time record by clinching his fourth overall World Cup crown, placed ninth.