WINTER SPORTS ROUNDUP : Girardelli Wins and Works Up Appetite

Four-time World Cup champion Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg overcame a strong effort by Scandinavian and Italian skiers Sunday at KranjskaGora, Slovenia, to win his second giant slalom of the season.

The 29-year-old Austrian-born skier clocked a winning aggregate time of 1 minute 57.48 seconds in two runs down the icy Podkoren course. It was the 38th career victory for Girardelli, who is seeking an unprecedented fifth overall title in his 12th season on the circuit.

Girardelli said he was furious about the track condition and the food in this resort town.

“The course was not well prepared,” he said. “It was very difficult to ski well.

“I really did not think of a victory here. I am happy to go to Austria now, to have a good meal after three days.”

Girardelli won the giant slalom in Alta Badia, Italy, last Sunday.

Norway’s Lasse Kjus had his best World Cup showing since 1990, placing second, 0.16 of a second behind Girardelli. Swede Fredrik Nyberg edged Norwegian Kietil Andre Aamodt for third.

Nyberg was clocked in 1:58.04. Aamodt, winner at Sestriere in the the first of the season’s three giant slaloms, had a time of 1:58.13.

Olympic champion Alberto Tomba, who finished seventh, said: “The races consist of two runs, and I am unable to put two good runs together this season. Don’t ask me why. I am in good form.”

Tomba’s lead in the overall Cup standings was cut to five points over Girardelli, 372-367. Girardelli leads Tomba, 212-176, in the giant slalom standings.

Germany’s Katja Seizinger beat the elements as well as the field, narrowly edging Russia’s Tatiana Lebedeva in a World Cup women’s super-G race at Lake Louise, Canada.

The race was run under overcast skies with light falling snow making visibility difficult.

Seizinger, second in Saturday’s downhill, had a time of 1 minute 10.93 seconds. Lebedeva, one of six skiers sent down the course at the outset to prepare it for the better racers, was 0.08 of a second back.

Third was German Regina Haeusl, clocked in 1:11.20.

Seizinger, who wears a brace on one knee because of an injury suffered six weeks ago while training in Austria, finished 10th in last week’s opening World Cup super-G at Vail, Colo.

Lebedeva, in only her second year on the World Cup circuit, had left the finish area after her run and was having coffee in the lunch room when a coach came to tell her she had finished second.

The young Russian, who spoke little English, seemed overwhelmed and on the verge of tears by the surge of attention focused on her.

Akira Higashi of Japan soared 122 meters, the day’s longest jump, on his first attempt and won the large hill event in World Cup ski jumping competition at Sapporo, Japan.

Overall leader Werner Rathmayr of Austria was second, and Toni Nieminen of Finland, 1992 Olympic gold medalist in the large hill event, finished 29th.