Hirscher wins record fourth straight overall title

MERIBEL, France (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. (Reporting by Manuele Lang; Writing by Francois Thomazeau; editing by Toby Davis)