Austrians Marcel Hirscher and Anna Fenninger celebrate their overall World Cup skiing triumphs.
CNN  — 

Marcel Hirscher capped a historic weekend by snatching the men’s slalom title with victory in the final race of the World Cup Finals in Meribel Sunday.

The Austrian was crowned overall World Cup champion overnight after his nearest rival Kjetil Jansrud opted not to compete in the slalom, but still had 55 points to make up on Felix Neureuther in the standings for that discipline.

Germany’s Neureuther cracked under the pressure, making a horrible mistake on the first leg, leaving the way clear for Hirscher to claim victory.

The Austrian’s combined time of one minute 33.53 seconds on the Roc de Fer course at the French resort, left him 0.83 seconds clear of Italian Giuliano Razzoli, with Russian Alexander Khoroshilov rounding out the podium.

Neureuther bravely battled to 12th spot but it was not enough to deny Hirscher yet another crystal globe.

“I am really sorry for Felix as he was so close to his first globe,” he told the official FIS website.

“I am super happy, because before the race I was in a very unusual position, normally I didn’t stand a chance but the victory made it possible and I’m thrilled.”

Hirscher had wrapped up the giant slalom discipline crown before Saturday’s race in which he finished fourth.

It left Jansrud, who picked up both the downhill and super-G crystal globes earlier in the week, 60 points adrift and without any real hope of overhauling the overall standings leader.

“We all knew that gaining 60 points on Marcel in slalom would be an impossible task for me so I decided to not ski,” he said.

It meant Hirscher was making skiing history by becoming the first man to win the overall World Cup crown for four years in a row and delighted to complete the feat,

“It means everything for me that’s definitely the truth. It was a long way to get there,” he told CNN.

Fenninger pips Maze

There was an exciting finale to the women’s season Sunday as Anna Fenninger won the giant slalom to edge out arch rival Tina Maze of Slovenia for the overall crown.

Maze went into the last event of the finals with a narrow 18-point lead over Fenninger, but the Austrian braved poor visibility to win with an aggregate time of two minutes 26.91 seconds.

She edged out teammate Eva-Maria Brem, with Maze only third.

Fenninger was left 22 points clear of Maze in the overall battle and she also claimed the crystal globe in the giant slalom discipline.

It’s been a perfect season for me,” Fenninger said. “There are so many people behind me who worked for these globes. I am very thankful to them.”

American Lindsey Vonn won the super-G and downhill crystal globes while compatriot Mikaela Shriffin took the slalom title.