Hirscher trumps Kostelic for Zagreb slalom

Austria's Marcel Hirscher won Thursday's World Cup slalom here ahead of Germany's Felix Neureuther and home hero Ivica Kostelic. The victory was the 22-year-old Hirscher's sixth on the World Cup circuit and third this season. The Austrian clocked 1min 51.84sec over the two runs, with Neureuther at 0.29sec and Kostelic, reigning World Cup slalom and overall champion, a further 0.19sec adrift. "It was not that easy especially after the first run," said Hirscher. "It's always a new situation for me to be the leader after the first run especially when you have the big hero in Croatia, Ivica. "That's a new feeling for me. It was not that easy to be the last man in the second run. That's an amazing feeling for me to win this race." Hirscher, winner of both the Beaver Creek giant slalom and Alta Badi slalom in December, added: "I think I'm pretty lucky this season. "I like courses that are difficult. Today it was pretty perfect for me. I like if it's hard to ski." Neureuther expressed his content with his podium showing, saying: "It was a hard race, hard challenging conditions. I'm totally happy today with my second place. "The level in slalom is now really very high. It's not easy to be on the podium." Kostelic admitted that he had mixed emotions after making the podium for the fourth time in five years. "I'm happy with my podium. Of course, when I crossed the finish line emotions were a little mixed," he said. "I really wanted to win. But this is the same every year, I want to win and end up on the podium. I'm happy with that especially since this race is pretty hard for me. It's one of the toughest challenges to race on the home hill. "I don't think there is anything comparable for me in the World Cup. There is a lot of distraction and it's pretty tough to stay focused on what you have to do." Kostelic warned, however, that he would have to improve in the speed events to combine with his stronger more technical events to have a realistic chance of defending his World Cup title. "My slalom skiing is pretty good at the moment so I'm pretty optimistic," he said of defending his slalom title. "I hope I can score some good points in the giant slalom - that means top 15, but I'm certainly not very happy with where I am right now in the downhill and super G and I would like to move a bit forward in those speed events."