SHIGAKOGEN, Japan, March 8 (UPI) -- Austria's Rainer Schoenfelder and Finland's Kalle Palander shared victory in the slalom Saturday to leave the Finn on top of the World Cup slalom standings.
The race ended in a dead heat, the first time it has happened in a men's World Cup slalom, after the pair each clocked a combined time of one minute, 41.14 seconds following a second run.
Italy's Giorgio Rocca, who was second last week in Korea, was third, 0.44 seconds ahead of Croatia's Ivica Kostelic, who surrendered his lead in the World Cup slalom standings to Palander.
Palander is now 34 points ahead Kostelic with only the finals in Lillehammer to come.
Schoenfelder, who has been suffering from back problems in recent weeks, set the fastest time of 51.09 seconds in the first run to lead Palander by 0.08 seconds going into the second and final run.
But Palander took the lead briefly before Schoenfelder struck back to force the tie.
"This was quite an exciting event," an elated Palander said. "It was tough because it was snowing hard and I had to come through to stay in the race for the World Cup standings. I was lucky that the visibility improved as I started in the second run."
Palander, who last January in Kitzbuhel became the first Finn to win an alpine ski race, could become the first to clinch the World Cup trophy.
Akira Sasaki was best of the Japanese skiers, finishing in sixth place after clocking the second best time in the final run. It was the best performance by a Japanese skier in a home race since 1973.
Great Britain's Alain Baxter was 11th, missing the top 10 by only 0.03 seconds. It was one of the best performances by the Scot this season but he is only 37th in the slalom standings and failed to qualify for the finals in Norway, where only the top 25 will attend.
It was also a disappointing day for American Bode Miller, who skied out at the beginning of the first run. He leaves Japan 93 points behind Stephan Eberharter in the overall World Cup standings.
