Desafio Espanol stayed five ahead of fifth-place Victory Challenge of Sweden with three matches to sail, while the Swedes won their duel against France's Areva Challenge by 35 seconds.
Whereas 1994 had been an epic duel, Hackl dominated Nagano in 1998 where he won by more than half-a-second and became the first man to record the best time in all four runs at the Olympics.