Marcel Hirscher of Austria put the dispute over his controversial victory in Zagreb behind him by taking a commanding lead after the opening run of a men’s World Cup night slalom on Tuesday.

Hirscher came down the Planai course in 50.13 seconds to lead Austrian teammate Mario Matt by 0.75 and position himself for a first victory on home soil. Fritz Dopfer of Germany was another 0.10 back in third.

“That was just one half on the race, but it’s like a victory to me,” said Hirscher, who has won five races this season and eight overall but never had a top-three finish in an event in Austria.

Overall champion Ivica Kostelic finished 1.18 behind Hirscher in sixth place. The Croat will remain at the top of the standings regardless of the result.

Cristian Deville of Italy, who earned his first career win in Kitzbuehel on Sunday, skied out.

Hirscher said he was happy that he and Kostelic shook hands on the eve of the race to settle a dispute over the Austrian’s victory in the Zagreb slalom this month after apparently straddling a gate.

Hirscher is second behind Kostelic in the overall World Cup standings, and the Croat expressed anger at an apparently illegitimate victory when the rule breach – which should have led to an automatic disqualification – was brought to light this past weekend.

“After we spoke to each other, the issue was over for me,” Hirscher said. “I can focus again on what I like to do – ski racing.”

Austrian ski officials became worried that the dispute could lead to Austrian and Croatian fans misbehaving during Tuesday’s night race, which was visited by over 40,000 spectators, including several thousand Croatians.

However, police told the Austria Press Agency in-between runs that no incidents had been reported so far.

Kostelic was booed during his run and he said he “saw a few snowballs” thrown by spectators.

“But it did not put me off,” said Kostelic, who was the seventh and final starter of the elite group. “My run was not great, I could have gone faster for sure. The course was not in perfect condition anymore but my run wouldn’t have been good anyway.”

Hirscher, who was the first racer on course, wasn’t clean from the start but skied flawlessly after the opening 20 seconds of his run.

Several racers, including Matt, Felix Neureuther and Ted Ligety, were faster at the first intermediate time, but could not keep up with Hirscher’s pace for the remaining of their runs.