Italy's Alberto Tomba has won the men's World Cup giant slalom in Austria.

Tomba charged to the lead after the first round in Schladming then held it against a challenge by the Austrian Thomas Sykora.

Sykora, trying to build on a streak of Austrians wins, had moved up from sixth place with a sparkling second run to hold the lead, as Tomba began his final run of the night.

Alberto Tomba on his way to clocking the fastest time

But in a near perfect second run, Tomba left little doubt that he was back in form.

He finished the two runs in 1 min 34.12 sec, a solid 0.89 sec ahead of Thomas Sykora.

Norway's Hans-Petter Buraas was a surprising third in 1 min 35.29 sec. Italy's Fabrizio Tescari was fourth, and Joel Chenal of France was fifth.

After the race, Sykora congratulated Tomba on his victory, saying: "He's back, what else can I say?"

Tomba's last victory was in the same race a year ago. But he said this one was more difficult because everyone was out to beat him.

Sykora still leads the World Cup slalom standings with 260 points, followed by Christian Jagge, Austria's Thomas Stangassinger and Buraas. Tomba is now fifth.

World Cup slalom results:

• 1 Alberto Tomba, Italy, 1 min 34.12 sec
• 2 Thomas Sykora, Austria, 1:35.01
• 3 Hans-Petter Buraas, Norway, 1:35.29
• 4 Fabrizio Tescari, Italy, 1:35.36
• 5 Joel Chenal, France, 1:35.49
• 6 Andrej Miklavc, Slovenia, 1:35.50
• 7 Ole-Christian Furuseth, Norway, 1:35.51
• 8 Jure Kosir, Slovenia, 1:35.55
• 9 Kiminobu Kimura, Japan, 1:35.76
• 10 Siegfried Voglreiter, Austria, 1:35.92

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