World Cup Skiing : Girardelli Tops Men in Overall

Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg and Maria Walliser of Switzerland won the top prizes in international skiing, the men’s and women’s World Cup overall titles.

Girardelli, a 22-year-old Austrian expatriate who has skied for Luxembourg throughout his career, won the overall title for the second straight year with another close victory over Switzerland’s Pirmin Zurbriggen. Girardelli had 294 points.

Yugoslavia’s Rok Petrovic won five slaloms on the way to that title, and Switzerland’s Joel Gaspoz edged Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark, 97-96, in the final GS ratings.

In the other men’s individual title races, Peter Wirnsberger of Austria, a four-time winner in the downhill, edged Switzerland’s Peter Mueller, winner of three races.

Markus Wasmaier of West Germany, the 1985 world champion in giant slalom, won a pair of trophies--in super giant slalom and combined.

Walliser, the fourth Swiss woman to win the overall title since 1981, had an easier time in her march to the women’s title. She won the downhill and combined individual titles and placed fourth in giant slalom and 10th in super giant slalom. She had 287 points to 242 for her teammate, two-time overall champion Erika Hess, and 216 for Switzerland’s Vreni Schneider, the season giant slalom champion.

Marina Kiehl won the super-G trophy.

In the closest battle of the season, Roswitha Steiner of Austria beat Hess for the slalom title.

The season ended Sunday with parallel slalom races for the men and women. In the finals, Schneider defeated Walliser in the women’s competition, whereas Paul Frommelt of Liechtenstein defeated Italy’s Marco Tonazzi in the men’s race.

For the fifth time in six years, Switzerland won the team competition. The Swiss won 30 races, one more than their team record of a year ago and one shy of the World Cup record set by France in 1970.