Kristoffersen defies deteriorating course to win in Chamonix

CHAMONIX, France – Henrik Kristoffersen showed glimpses of his best slalom skills Sunday, winning the last World Cup race before the world championships.

The Norwegian had an attacking, fluent opening run, and defied worsening course conditions in the final to land his second victory of the season.

Most of the top-ranked racers from the opening leg struggled on the rapidly deteriorating La Verte des Houches course, with the surface getting softer and softer as the sun came out in the afternoon after days of rain.

Kristoffersen was the last racer on course but managed to hold on to his first-run lead as he battled his way through the ruts.

The Norwegian beat Ramon Zenhäusern by 0.28 seconds and another Swiss skier, Sandro Simonet, by 0.66.

Simonet improved from 30th position after the opening run as he was among the racers who benefitted from an early start in the final.

Kristoffersen’s win came a day after he skied out a few seconds into his opening run of a slalom on the same course.

“I could have skied like this yesterday, too, if not for the straddle at the second gate. I feel really good on this kind of snow,” he said.

Kristoffersen won the slalom season title for a second time last year but a victory in Italy in December had been his only previous podium finish in eight races in the current campaign.

“Life is not nice at all if you’re skiing badly. This year has been really difficult for sure until now. We are struggling with the setup on the icy snow,” the Norwegian said.

“Since the start of January up until now it has been super cold. The density of the ice has been really hard so then I don’t have the right setup.”

Sunday’s result marked Kristoffersen’s 19th career slalom win, and 23rd overall.

The win puts him in shared second place with Kjetil Jansrud on Norway’s all-time winners list. Only Aksel Lund Svindal, who retired two years ago, has more victories with 36.

Wearing bib 48, American Luke Winters matched his career-best result of 19th. He was the only U.S. skier to make second run.

“I’m really happy with where my skiing is going,” said Winters, “throughout the month of January there have been a lot of ups and downs and I’ve figured some stuff out, so I’m looking forward to World Champs. Got some good mojo with the team, it’ll be good to have a little break, then get back to work and see what we can do the rest of the season.”  

Overall World Cup leader Alexis Pinturault, who was runner-up to Kristoffersen after the opening run, shared eighth place with Manfred Mölgg, who improved from 27th.

Marco Schwarz dropped from third to fifth and failed to wrap up the World Cup slalom title. The Austrian still holds a 146-point lead over Zenhäusern with two slaloms remaining after the Feb. 8-21 world championships.

Clément Noël, who won the race on home snow Saturday, didn’t qualify for the second run after coming off the race line in the opening run when his skis crossed and nearly failed to make the next gate.

The men’s World Cup moves to Germany for speed races in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Friday and Saturday, the last events before the worlds.

World Cup – Men’s slalom – Chamonix – Jan. 31, 2021