Alpine skiing-Hirscher wins record fourth straight overall title

(Adds Hirscher quotes and Jansrud statement) MERIBEL, France, March 21 (Reuters) - Austria's Marcel Hirscher became the first male alpine skier to win four straight overall World Cup titles on Saturday when closest rival Kjetil Jansrud decided against competing in the final slalom race. Hirscher finished fourth in Saturday's giant slalom won by Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen at the World Cup finals in Meribel to open a 60-point lead in the overall standings over Jansrud, who finished 11th. After leaving everybody guessing whether he would take part in Sunday's slalom, Norway's Jansrud finally decided to miss the race and was not on the start list published by the International Ski Federation (FIS) on Saturday. It leaves Hirscher now as one of five men to have won four overall titles, the record being held by Luxembourg's Marc Girardelli with five, and at 26, the gifted Austrian can hope to collect more laurels in the future. "It's official, I'm super glad. It's incredible. The pressure is completely off now," Hirscher said. "It's an incredible feeling and a tremendous relief. I thank Kjetil for this incredibly hard-fought battle. He's one of the greatest athletes I have had the chance to meet. "I'm looking forward to next season and I hope to keep that excitement into tomorrow's race." Winner of seven races this season, the Austrian also bagged the giant slalom title and is still in contention for the slalom crown. "It's with a content mind that I have decided not to ski the slalom tomorrow. This means that the season of 2014/2015 is over, and I'd like to congratulate Marcel Hirscher as the FIS overall World Cup winner," Jansrud said in a stamement. "Marcel wins the globe for the fourth consecutive time and is deservedly writing history. Hopefully, we will make it as exciting next year. Here's to an immensely talented skier and magnificent sportsman. Congratulations!" Hirscher is currently second in the slalom standings, 55 points behind Germany's Felix Neureuther. The final giant slalom of the season saw Jansrud's young team mate Kristoffersen clinch his first World Cup victory in the discipline. Boosted by his two gold medals at the junior world championships a week ago, the 20-year old Norwegian clocked two minutes 17.36 seconds to beat Germany's Fritz Dopfer by 0.79 seconds while France's Thomas Fanara was third, 0.97 adrift. Skiing more conservatively to secure vital points, Hirscher, who had already bagged the discipline title, was 1.18 off the pace. (Reporting by Manuele Lang. Writing by Francois Thomazeau; editing by Toby Davis and Ian Chadband)