Norwegian skier Haugan posts convincing men's slalom World Cup win in Italy

Norwegian skier Timon Haugan added to his first-run advantage to win a World Cup slalom by a large margin at Alta Badia resort in La Villa, Italy on Monday.

Haugan finished 1.13 seconds ahead of Loic Meillard of Switzerland and 1.26 ahead of Norwegian teammate Atle Lie McGrath.

It was Haugan's second World Cup victory after taking the slalom at finals last season in Saalbach, Austria, the site of this season's world championships in February.

Montreal's Simon Fournier was 47th in the opening run and didn't advance, while Calgary's Erik Read did not finish the run.

Haugan led McGrath by 31-100ths of a second after the first leg then charged the entire way down his second run. He made a mistake and was pushed wide midway down and made a slight bobble on the bottom of the Gran Risa course. But he recovered both times and celebrated by skiing in a circle in the finish area.

"I tried to keep it simple, keep it clean and really attack," McGrath said. "That was the main goal today, just focus on the skiing and not think about the result."

Haugan was coming off a fifth-place finish in Sunday's giant slalom on the Gran Risa course, which was his best result this season -- until Monday.

"It's always nice to ski the GS the day before and get a feeling for the snow," Haugan said. "It's good for the nerves, too, to get a good result yesterday and then I can just relax and focus on the skiing."

Meillard was only eighth in the morning but surged up the leader board for his third podium in four slaloms this season.

McGrath, who was second after the first run, recorded his third consecutive slalom podium after placing third in Gurgl, Austria, and second in Val d'Isere, France.

Norway had a 1-2 in Val d'Isere eight days ago with Henrik