Featured Image: World Cup Finals slalom podium. Credit: GEPA

Manuel Feller of Austria came into the slalom race today already celebrating his victory of the 2024 World Cup slalom title and a lights-out season. It is the first time that Feller has clinched a Crystal Globe.

He stated, “I can’t describe this in words. It is just amazing, especially in front of a crowd like that at home. You can’t write a book better than that. I want to thank everybody who came here, who cheered for me over the season and the years.”

He continued, “I want to give a special thanks to all the fans who were cheering for me in the bad times.”

This season was the first time the 31-year-old had won a slalom race since 2021, and he impressively dominated in four of the races.

Furthermore, he emerged as the most successful male slalom skier of the past five years during this season. Undoubtedly, a significant milestone in his professional journey.

He wrote in the snow when he raised the Crystal Globe above his head. He explained, “Me and my friends lost a friend one and half years ago, and I just wanted to share more of that moment with him.”

Although he had secured the top, he continued to raise the bar today. The Austrian crowd roared when he came across the finish of the final slalom run -0.52 ahead of the field.

The finish area was bellowing with emotional excitement through the last four athletes. Every passionate Austrian fan was on the edge of their seat as Feller surpassed Linus Strasser of Germany and Swiss racer Loic Meillard’s times.

But, the nail-biting continued when the winner of the first run, Timon Haugan, was sending it down the course. Giving it everything to achieve his first World Cup victory. The Norwegian was slower on the top sections of the course but maintained the fastest overall time. He bobbled before the pitch but did exactly what he needed to do through the critical sections and reigned victorious on the final slalom race of 2024.

The emotions were intense as the race concluded and the top 3 athletes came into the finish arena to stand proudly on the podium. The last slalom race finished with Timon Haugan in first, Manuel Feller in 2nd, and Linus Strasser in 3rd place.

Overcoming the Conditions

Today, the temperatures continued to heat the track, and the spring-like snow brought excitement to the Saalbach final World Cup slalom.

Coming into the second run, there was a three-second gap between the fastest racer, Timon Haugan, and 15th position. The athletes also had their work cut out with a challenging course of tight transitions and several rhythm changes.

However, the racers who took advantage of the earlier start times in the second run and skied strategically were able to make up some ground on the top athletes from the first run.

A highlight was AJ Ginnis of Greece, a former Stifel US Ski Team athlete, who started second on the second run and took advantage of his early start time. His run was a little wild as he was getting bucked around through the pitch. However, he took chances, and it ended up paying off. He managed the fastest second run time, which moved him up 13 places, achieving 9th place, marking his career-best result.

Ginnis sat in the leader’s chair until Alex Vinatzer from Italy came through -0.12 ahead. Vinatzer moved from bib-20 to conclude the day in 8th place, earning his third top-10 slalom finish of 2024.

The young Alexander Steen Olsen achieved 11th place and was emotional when his teammate, Timon Haugan, won for the first time. The Norwegian team displayed tight comradery and excellent sportsmanship, which is what makes these final races incredible.

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