Italy's Vinatzer in pole for Kitzbuehel slalom
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Italy's Vinatzer in pole for Kitzbuehel slalom
Italy's Alex Vinatzer set himself up nicely for a shot at a podium finish in the men's World Cup slalom in Kitzbuehel by clocking the fastest first leg on Saturday.
In heavy snowfall, the 22-year-old Italian timed 50.59 seconds down the Ganslern course, finishing 0.08sec ahead of fancied French racer Clement Noel.
Norway's reigning world champion Sebastian Foss-Solevaag was in third, just a hundredth of a second off Noel.
Italy had three more racers in the top 10 in Giuliano Razzoli, Tommaso Sala and Stefano Gross. Britain's Dave Ryding was in sixth behind Razzoli and Switzerland's Marc Rochat and just ahead of France's Alexis Pinturault.
Norway's Lucas Braathen, a shock winner in Wengen last week after finishing just 29th fastest on the first leg, was in eighth spot, at 0.98sec.
The first Austrian was Michael Matt in 11th (+1.14), while Norway's two-time Olympic medallist Henrik Kristoffersen left himself with a lot to do after finishing 1.68sec off Vinatzer's pace.
The second leg, in which the top 30 racers from the first leg compete in reverse order, is scheduled to start at 1245 GMT.
U.Dumont--JdB
