Alpine skiing-Austria's Hirscher comes of age before Olympics

KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia Jan 30 (Reuters) - Austrian Marcel Hirscher boosted his Olympic hopes when he won the last World Cup giant slalom before the Vancouver Games on Saturday.

Hirscher, the slalom and giant slalom junior world champion in 2008, won in a combined time of two minutes and 21.30 seconds, for his second World Cup victory after taking the giant slalom in Val d'Isere in December.

Fifth after the first leg, Hirscher executed a near-perfect run in the afternoon to beat Norway's Kjetil Jansrud and American Ted Ligety, who won Friday's giant slalom.

"Kranjska Gora is a good place for me, I love the slope and the facilities," said Hirscher, who earned his first World Cup podium in the Slovenian resort in 2008 and finished second on Friday.

"The second run was probably the best I ever made and this was probably my best weekend ever.

"This was even more emotional than my first win in Val d'Isere and I owe it entirely to my team, who gave me the right instructions to ski this well," added the 20-year-old.

Ligety, who finished 0.58 adrift of the Austrian, leads the World Cup giant slalom standings by 43 points from Italy's Massimiliano Blardone with one race left.

The last men's race before the Vancouver Olympics is Sunday's slalom on the same mountain.

"This gives me extra motivation for tomorrow," said Hirscher, who faces strong opposition from team mate Reinfried Herbst and Frenchman Julien Lizeroux.

Austrian team leader Benjamin Raich finished sixth to retain top spot in the Word Cup overall standings.

"My programme in January was probably a little bit too heavy but I can't afford to let a point slip away if I want to win the World Cup," he said.

Raich, on 967 points, leads Swiss Carlo Janka by 70.

(Editing by Alison Wildey

To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)