Kristoffersen wins on Van Deer; Winters 11th

Kristoffersen wins Slalom Photo – GEPA Pictures

There is nothing quite like the excitement of a night race at Germany’s iconic Garmisch-Partenkirchen venue. With a first run defined by challenging soft snow, the cooler nighttime temperatures were a welcome change. Although the surface was far from perfect, it was a slight improvement.

Henrik Kristoffersen has been knocking on the door of victory all season. Tonight, he would not be denied demonstrating that when things are demanding, the best rise to the top. He was able to build on his first run lead and finish with a 1.22 seconds advantage. Facing harsh course conditions and making the last run of the evening, the Norwegian used his skill to ski with the balance and power required to beat the world’s best men.

“I was pretty calm at the start, actually,” the Norwegian added. “I thought the second run, the conditions were rough but not so bad. I’ve skied in worse. Some gates were really nice to ski and I think I took pretty good advantage of that: skiing smart, not risking too much.”

“Very good for sure,” Kristoffersen said about finally winning again after finishing the previous slaloms in sixth and second place.

Kristoffersen’s victory is his third consecutive SL win in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Notably, it is the first World Cup victory for the Van Deer-Red Bull skis,

Austria’s Manuel Feller and France’s Clement Noel rounded out the podium. Feller finished the first run 4th, 1.33 behind the Norwegian leader, and moved up two positions to finish 2nd. Today’s 3rd place is Noel’s first podium of the season and as they enter the busiest portion of the slalom schedule, he finds himself ready to compete.

Home crowd favorite Linus Strasser was second after the first leg, but he lost his balance and skied out in the second after he crossed his ski tips.

Attack from the back

Three athletes that qualified at the back of the field used their second run-start positions to dramatically move up the standings. Italy’s veteran, Stefano Gross, ran fifth and, by winning the second run, climbed 21 ranks and finished the day in fifth-place. Switzerland’s Marc Rochat skied eighth and gained 16 places to finish 7th. Also, last season’s Junior World Slalom Champion, bib 45, Norwegian Alexander Steen Olsen, used the second-best final run to climb an incredible 20 spots from 30th to tenth. He was the highest bib to qualify for the final.

North American success

USA’s best male slalom skier Luke Winters proved his coaches correct and rose 11 spots from his first run 22nd place to finish 11th. Winters finished the season strong a year ago, qualifying for the World Cup finals, and is showing that level of performance again.

Winters commented, “The conditions; start number helped a lot, and it was tough. But I enjoy these days. I grew up on this snow and it’s kind of nice to have the struggle occasionally on soft snow and see the top guys struggle as well. So, yeah, it’s not ideal but it was fun. It feels good to get one through and get in there for a second run. And I knew I had to take advantage of the second run start position, and I thought I did what I could.”

The other North American to finish was the consistent Erik Read. Today’s 14th-place result was Read’s best slalom finish of the season

Analysis of the top three, qualified North Americans and final results

Race results from Garmisch-Partenkirchen January 4th men’s slalom

The Associated Press contributed to this report.