By Michael Pavitt

American Mikaela Shiffrin and Austria's Marcel Hirscher secured World Cup titles on the penultimate day of the season ©AFP/Getty ImagesAustria's Marcel Hirscher is on the verge of becoming the first man to win four consecutive overall Alpine Skiing World Cup titles, after a fourth place finish in the giant slalom at the World Cup Finals at Meribel, France.


Hirscher, a double gold medallist at this year's Alpine World Ski Championships, who has already secured the giant slalom World Cup title, took a step closer to guaranteeing the overall crown after nearest rival, Norway's Kjetil Jansrud, could only manage an 11th place finish.

Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen earned victory in the final giant slalom event of the season, posting a time of 2min 17.36sec, to finish ahead of Germany's Fritz Dopfer, second in 2:18.15.

The podium was completed by France's Thomas Fanara as his time of 2:18.33 was enough to prevent Hirscher from claiming another podium, the Austrian finishing 0.21 seconds bac.

He looks set to claim the overall crown after tomorrow's slalom event, however. 

Ameircan Mikeala Shiffrin claimed her third consecutive women's World Cup slalom title in style with victory in the last race of the season.

Shiffrin clocked 1:34.08 from her two runs to secure her fifth slalom victory of the season, finishing ahead of Sweden's Frida Hansdotter, who was 0.05 seconds behind, meaning she ends the season as the slalom World Cup runner up.

Austria's Anna Fenninger will hope to overhaul Slovenia's Tina Maze to claim the women's overall title tomorrow ©Agence Zoom/Getty ImagesAustria's Anna Fenninger will hope to overhaul Slovenia's Tina Maze to claim the women's overall title tomorrow ©Agence Zoom/Getty Images



"Frida has been pushing me hard all season, she's been skiing so fast and I really had to give it my all in the second run to get the win today," Shiffrin said.

"When I hit the flat section I had a good feeling, but I knew I had to give it everything I had if I wanted to win and luckily it worked out."

Slovakia's Veronika Velez Zuzulova completed the slalom podium in 1:34.48, while Tina Maze finished fourth in 1:34.55.

But the result allowed the Slovenian to take the lead in overall World Cup title.

Maze has an 18 point advantage over Austria's Anna Fenninger heading into tomorrow's giant slalom event, which will end the season.

Fenninger will be confident of overhauling Maze as she has already secured the giant slalom World Cup title, having also won the title at last month's Alpine World Ski Championships.

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