Braathen is better than the rest: USA’s Ritchie qualifies

Braathen’s leading run – Photo: GEPA pictures

Today the sun is not baking the Adelboden race hill, but that meant they didn’t have the clear overnight skies that help freeze the snow. The surface is not as soft as the men saw in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, but it is not ice. The crowd, however, has lost none of its enthusiasm. Nor has the first-run leader Lucas Braathen.

The first run was exciting and it set the table for a thrilling final.

The finish pitch is always tricky, and today is no exception. The racers charged into the problematic section to find challenging short yet wide turns in softer snow. It created a significant time separation between the best and the rest. Additionally, it ended the day of some of the best.

Norway’s Lucas Braathen is probably the fastest slalom skier in the world, but he isn’t averse to risk-taking, meaning possible catastrophic mistakes are never too far away. However, he used his immense skill during the first run today and displayed his best. With a beautifully balanced stance, he found the new ski early in the turn and used that energy to maximize his speed through the turns.

For the second day in a row, the Swiss crowd responded enthusiastically with loud roars to the run of Loic Meillard. Meillard is currently 2nd, 0.52 of a second behind Braathen, and in position for his second Adelboden weekend podium. Sitting in third is Germany’s Linus Strasser. Strasser possesses the skills required to win and was one of the few who made the bottom of the course look reasonably skiable. He was in a similar position in Garmish-Partenkirchen and struggled when he crossed the tips of his skis during the final run.

Henrik Kristoffersen, the World Cup slalom standings leader, finished outside the top 30 as did world champion Sebastian Foss-Solevaag who skied out midway down. Kristoffersen, getting the best racing surface as the No. 1 starter, went off line after just 20 seconds and had to hike back up the slope a few steps to resume his race. He then set the fastest split times to the finish but ended more than four seconds behind Braathen.

North Americans qualify Read and Ritchie

Just as the North Americans experienced in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, they have two qualified for the second run in Adelboden. As in every race, Canada’s Erik Read is in the second run, and USA’s Ben Ritchie qualified for the first time this season. Both will have advantageous start positions for the final. Ritchie, with bib 42, was the last racer to qualify and will start 1st, and Read finished 27th and will start fourth.

Former US Ski Team member skiing for Greece, AJ Ginnis, has qualified for the second time this season and will start immediately in front of Canadian Read.

Today six athletes with start numbers above 30 have qualified for the second run. Ginnis, skiing with bib 48, was the last to do so. Home country Switzerland qualified six and has three ranked in the top ten.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Analysis of the fastest three, qualified North Americans and top 30 first-run results

Top thirty 1st run results January 8th Adelboden SL