Deville wins Kitzbuehel downhill, Kostelic tops World Cup

Jan 22, 2012, 13:43 GMT

Kitzbuehel, Austria - Cristian Deville of France won his first career World Cup ski race on Sunday in the prestigious Kitzbuehel slalom.

Deville, 31, climbed from fourth place after the first run to first on the difficult Ganslerhang piste in 1 minute 39.19 seconds, after coming second and third earlier in the season.

First-run leader Mario Matt was a distant second in 1:39.91 minutes and Croatian Ivica Kostelic was third in 1:39.97, assuring himself of the combined classification victory from the slalom and Saturday's downhill.

'I am 31 years young, not old. I don't know what happened. I trained like in previous years. Maybe the experience helps,' said Deville about his late inaugural success.

'This is amazing. I didn't feel as good as in the first races of the season. I didn't ski well in the first run but the second was amazing. I had my rhythm from the first gate onwards and it was worth the risk.'

Kostelic tops the slalom standings with 545 points and moved atop the overall World Cup list with 855 points, dethroning Austrian Marcel Hirscher who remained on 725 after straddling a gate in the second slalom run.

The men's World Cup continues on Tuesday with another slalom in Schladming, Austria.

Read more about Austria