MICHAEL VON GRUENIGEN surprised even himself yesterday when he clinched a men's World Cup giant slalom skiing event by the huge margin of 1.64 seconds in Kranjska Gora in Slovenia.

The Swiss World Cup holder in the discipline produced two near-perfect runs on the demanding Podkoren piste for a total time of two minutes 13.42 seconds and his second triumph of the season.

His usual smooth and elegant skiing style left Austria's Siegfried Voglreiter a distant second in 2:15.06 with Norwegian Kjetil-Andre Aamodt third in 2:15.78.

Alpine skiing's biggest drawcard, Alberto Tomba, disappointed his many Italian fans in the Slovenian resort by crashing out late on the second run.

`La Bomba', in his first giant slalom appearance of the season, was seventh after the first descent.