Skiing: Fog and red mist come down on Tomba

Controversy continued to surround Alberto Tomba yesterday as the Italian stormed out of a World Cup race in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.

Victory in the final men's giant slalom of the year went to Lasse Kjus, of Norway, who beat the Swiss Michael von Gruenigen by 0.22sec to increase his lead in the overall standings.

But the race was overshadowed by Tomba's outburst at the officials' decision earlier in the day to restart the race when fog descended, forcing a 90-minute delay after just 12 skiers had completed their opening runs.

The Italian was in trouble on Sunday in Alta Badia, Italy, when he clashed angrily with a photographer who had sold nude pictures of the skier.

Tomba, second after his first trip down the course, refused to return for the second and may boycott today's slalom.

"The officials are playing around with us," he explained. "They don't know what it means to race in these conditions. I wanted to show that they can't mess around with me.