Hirscher skis out of World Cup slalom, Hargin leads 1st run (The Associated Press)

Marcel Hirscher of Austria skied out of a World Cup slalom for the first time in three seasons Saturday, and Mattias Hargin of Sweden was fastest in the first run. Hirscher, who leads the overall and slalom standings, straddled a gate mid-run for his first failure to reach the finish line since March 2012 in Schladming, Austria. ”I would rather be fast and go out than be in the fifth or sixth position with a big gap between the leader and yourself,” said Hirscher. ”It sucks that I struggled but it was definitely not easy.” Hargin timed 54.80 seconds through steadily falling snow to be 0.14 ahead of Stefano Gross of Italy, who won last weekend at nearby Adelboden.