Croatia’s Zubcic comes back from 12th to win men’s World Cup giant slalom in Japan

Filip Zubcic of Croatia won a men’s World Cup giant slalom race in Japan on Saturday after coming from 12th place after the first run.

Zubcic had a strong second run for a combined time of 2 minutes, 37.25 seconds to finish 0.74 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt. Tommy Ford of the United States was third, 1.07 seconds off the pace.

Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway won the first run, 0.67 seconds ahead of compatriot Leif Kristian Nestvold-Haugen.

Nestvold-Haugen and Kristoffersen finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Ted Ligety of the United States finished 11th.

WATCH | Zubcic storms back to win gold:

Filip Zubcic’s 2nd run time of 1:19.04 was enough to vault himself into the top spot in the men’s giant slalom World Cup race from Yuzawa Naeba, Japan.1:58

Zan Kranjec of Slovenia, who leads the overall giant slalom standings, was ninth.

Last week’s men’s downhill in China was cancelled over fears of the coronavirus. The event had been scheduled for Feb. 15 in Yanqing to start a two-race weekend.

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