World Cup leader Kristoffersen gets 4th Schladming win

SCHLADMING, Austria (AP) — Henrik Kristoffersen overcame a big mistake in his final run to win a World Cup night slalom on Tuesday, strengthening his lead in the overall and discipline standings.

The Norwegian nearly skied out after a few seconds but recovered from the mishap and charged down the Planai course in an unmatched pace.

It was Kristoffersen’s 17th career slalom win and fourth at this venue, tying a record set by the retired Austrian standout Benjamin Raich.

Alexis Pinturault, another contender for the overall title, was 0.34 behind in second, after the Frenchman failed to finish the previous two slaloms in Wengen and Kitzbuehel.

Swiss skier Daniel Yule, who got his third win of the season at the slalom in Kitzbuehel two days ago, was third, 0.83 off the lead.

Marco Schwarz, who posted the fastest first-run time and led Kristoffersen by 0.14, lost the chance for a first Austrian slalom win this season following an early mistake in his final run.

The race was briefly interrupted after a woman carrying a banner with the text “RIP Kobe” walked onto the course during Alex Vinatzer’s run.

The woman walked across the finish line and caused the clock as shown at the venue and on TV to stop, before the Italian had completed his run.

However, an alternate system had recorded the correct time for Vinatzer, who finished sixth.

Kobe Bryant, the former NBA superstar, was killed in a helicopter crash in California on Sunday.

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