World Cup Skiing Roundup : Frommelt Wins Slalom, Moves Into Tie for First

Paul Frommelt of Liechtenstein won his first World Cup slalom ski race in five years Sunday and scored the third Cup victory of his career to cap Hahnenkamm weekend at Kitzbuehel, Austria.

Frommelt, in beating Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark, was fastest in the first heat with 52.18 seconds and was runner-up in the second run in 49.95 for a total of 1 minute 42.13 seconds.

The 28-year-old Frommelt moved into a tie for first place in the World Cup slalom standings at 60 points with Yugoslavia’s Bojan Krizaj, who was disqualified for missing a gate on the first run.

The 29-year-old Stenmark had heat times of 53.15 and 49.99 for 1:43.14 overall, more than a second behind the winner. Tied for third place were Andreas Wenzel, also of Liechtenstein, and Austria’s Dietmar Koehlbichler, with aggregate times of 1:43.62.

Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland, fifth in Saturday’s downhill and ninth in the slalom, was winner of the combined, a paper race computed from two events and earning World Cup points.

Zurbriggen was first in the combined with 36.020 points, ahead of Wenzel, 43.140, and Markus Wasmeier of West Germany, 83.130.

Austrian Peter Wirnsberger, the winner of the two downhill events Friday and Saturday, earned 11 World Cup points and expanded his overall Cup lead to 130 points, 21 points ahead of Luxembourg’s Marc Girardelli, who also was among the first-heat victims.

Third in the Cup standings is Switzerland’s Peter Mueller with 99 points, ahead of Zurbriggen’s 84.

Italy’s veteran Paolo de Chiesa, second in the first slalom heat, finished fifth overall in 1:43.87, ahead of up-and-coming Austrian Guenter Mader, who marked the best time in the second run for a total of 1:43.95. Mader started 63th in the first heat and finished 10th.

Vreni Schneider of Switzerland posted the fastest times in both runs to win a women’s giant slalom at Oberstaufen, West Germany, for her second World Cup victory this season.

The 21-year-old Swiss was clocked in 1 minute 6.85 seconds to lead after the first run and posted a 1:07.68 in the second for a winning aggregate of 2:14.53, nearly one second ahead of Michaela Gerg of West Germany.

It was Schneider’s fourth career World Cup victory, all in the giant slalom. She has won both giant slaloms this season and leads that event in World Cup standings with the maximum of 50 points.

Gerg, who has one downhill victory this season, spoiled the Swiss team’s hopes of sweeping the top three places by finishing second in a combined time of 2:15.45.

Michela Figini of Switzerland, the world and Olympic downhill champion and defending overall World Cup champion, raced a daring second run to finish third in 2:15.84, edging teammate Erika Hess, who placed fourth in 2:16.24. Figini had only the sixth fastest time in the first run.

Maria Walliser of Switzerland retained the overall World Cup lead with 172 points, despite falling in the second run.

Hess picked up 12 points to retain second place overall with 164. Schneider collected 25 points for her victory but remained third overall with 150 points.

Gerg, who collected 20 points for her second place, climbed two spots in overall standings to fourth, with 114 points.

Anita Wachter, an 18-year-old Austrian, finished fifth in 2:17.05, edging Tamara McKinney of Squaw Valley, Calif., who equaled her best performance this season by placing sixth in 2:17.35.