Marcel Hirscher claimed his 55th World Cup victory by finishing well ahead of his rivals in Sunday’s giant slalom Vita Vea Color Rush Jersey , the last before the Olympics.

The Austrian six-time overall champion was fastest in both runs for a combined time of 2 minutes, 40.18 seconds on the Kandahar course – 1.57 seconds faster than compatriot Manuel Feller and 1.69 quicker than Ted Ligety of the United States.

”It’s really, really difficult to beat Marcel, unless he beats himself,” Ligety said. ”You have to ski as fast as you can and hope that’s good enough, but it probably won’t be if he skis as well as he can.”

Hirscher, who broke his ankle in the offseason and missed his entire preparation period, overtook Austrian great Hermann Maier’s career total of World Cup wins.

”It’s definitely something special to be Austria’s No. 1 in career victories so a huge day for myself,” said Hirscher, who only has Swedish standout Ingemar Stenmark ahead of him in men’s skiing with 86 wins.

”I give my best like every other athlete. But I’m quite stable this season and mentally everything is a little easier,” Hirscher said after his seventh giant slalom win in eight races. His third place at Val d’Isere in France was the only exception.

”I’m very happy and very surprised that this season is going so well Ronald Jones II Color Rush Jersey ,” the Austrian said.

The 25-year-old Feller almost lost control as he skied to the limit but managed to hang on to claim his first podium finish.

Ligety was 0.63 behind Hirscher after the first run.

”This hill is always a really tough hill. It’s not a place you can put two really good turns together, unless you’re Marcel,” Ligety said after he claimed his first podium place of the season.

It was his first since placing second in a super-G at Beaver Creek in December 2015.

”I’m happy to make that step here when it’s been a tough couple of years injury-wise,” Ligety said.

Henrik Kristoffersen, Hirscher’s closest rival in both the overall and giant slalom standings, finished fourth, 1.83 behind.

Hirscher stretched his lead over the Norwegian to 105 points in the discipline standings – with his 26th giant slalom victory – and 224 in the overall standings.

Alexis Pinturault, the only man other than Hirscher to have won any of the last 11 World Cup giant slaloms, finished 2.32 off the pace in ninth.

Go ahead and take the New England Patriots to win their sixth Super Bowl title with Tom Brady to earn his fifth MVP award.

Those are the predictions of EA Sports using their Madden NFL 18 simulation for Sunday’s Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles.

For those who doubt the accuracy, EA Sports has predicted 10 of the 14 Super Bowl winners since the company started simulating the game in 2004.

Madden NFL predicted the Patriots would rally late in the fourth quarter of last year’s Super Bowl , including overcoming a 10-point deficit in the third quarter. The game also predicted Matt Ryan would throw two touchdowns and the final score.

The simulation wasn’t perfect M.J. Stewart Color Rush Jersey , missing Falcons receiver Julio Jones with his 87 yards receiving with a prediction of 89 yards. The simulation also missed Jones scoring a touchdown.

In predicting Sunday’s game, the Madden NFL 18 simulation predicts the Eagles take an early lead on a touchdown run by Jay Ajayi with Philadelphia’s defense holding New England to a field goal. The Eagles are forced to settle for a field goal late in the first quarter. Brady, on the cover of Madden NFL 18, throws TD passes to Rob Gronkowski and Brandin Cooks in the second quarter with the Eagles adding a field goal late in the first half.

In the simulation, the Eagles start blitzing Brady in the second half getting two sacks and forcing an interception. Nick Foles converts Brady’s interception into a TD pass to Alshon Jeffrey putting Philadelphia ahead going into the fourth quarter.

But Brady is predicted to throw his third TD pass, this to Danny Amendola, to give the Patriots the lead. Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins strips New England running back Dion Lewis of the ball, but Patriots defensive back Stephon Gilmore knocks away a Foles pass to Jeffrey as time expires to seal a 24-20 victory and a sixth title for New England.

The simulation predicts Brady to finish with 342 yards passing compared with 241 yards for Foles. Gronkowski has a game-high 107 yards receiving on four catches, while Jeffrey finishes with 98 yards on six catches.

Madden NFL also predicted the final score in February 2015 of the Patriots’ 28-24 win over the Seahawks . That included New England trailing 24-14 in the third quarter before rallying along with Julian Edelman scoring the game-winning TD.

—