KRANJSKA GORA - Marcel Hirscher gave Austria a welcome pre-Olympics boost by winning the men's giant slalom here on Saturday.

Hirscher, one of only a few Austrians to win on the World Cup this season, held off Norway's Kjetil Jansrud and American Ted Ligety to claim only his second World Cup career win.

Austrian Benjamin Raich retained the overall World Cup lead while Ligety's second place means the American closes the gap on Massimiliano Blardone in the giant slalom standings.

Ligety had dominated the field to win the giant here on Friday and the American was in contention again after finishing the first run in fourth place 0.37sec off the pace of Jansrud.

However Hirscher, fifth in the first run a further 0.10sec down, blew all the frontrunners away in a superb second run that gave the 20-year-old his second World Cup win after his maiden victory at Val d'Isere in December.
The first three finishers on Saturday had also stood on the podium Friday, when Ligety beat Hirscher into second with Jansrud in third.

Friday's giant slalom was organised here following the cancellation of the event in Adelboden, Switzerland on January 9 because of fog.
The Vancouver Olympics will be held Feb 12-28.