Alexander Steen Olsen. Photo: GEPA pictures

Palisades Tahoe, California – It should surprise no one that two Norwegian were on the Palisades Tahoe slalom podium. However, the fact that the winner is last year’s junior world champion, 21-year-old Alexander Steen Olsen, might surprise more than a few.

Steen Olsen is joined on the podium by his teammate, 26-year-old Timon Haugan (+0.05), who finished second, as well as first-time podium member, third place Bulgarian Albert Popov, who tied with France’s Clement Noel.

“I’ve been waiting so much,” Popov said of a podium finish. “The form is good. Today, I had a little bit of luck.”

Steen Olsen earns his first World Cup podium and is the top step. He won the Junior World slalom and GS a year ago and today, he won a World Cup slalom. A warning to Lucas Braathen and Atle Lie McGrath – win your globes while you can. The Norwegians now have three racers born between 2000 and 2001 who have won six World Cup slaloms between them.

“It’s so unbelievable,” Steen Olsen said after the race. “I don’t know what to say. It’s so crazy.”

“I’m from Norway. There is a lot of snow also,” Steen Olsen cracked. “Just tried to go for it.”

As predicted, the Bulgarian coach set a more complicated second run, which challenged additional slalom skills. Notably, his athlete Albert Popov responded with the fastest second run. Popov went from 25th after the first run, moved up 22 positions and finish tied for third. It isn’t often a coach sets a course for a specific athlete’s benefit and it works, but today, it worked perfectly.

“I’ve been waiting so much,” Popov said of a podium finish. “The form is good. Today, I had a little bit of luck.”

If you quickly look at the 11 highest-ranked slalom skiers for the 2022-23 season, you may notice five of them are from the same nation, which isn’t Austria.

World Cup men’s slalom standings going into the Soldeu Andora finals

Since February 4th, Greek native AJ Ginnis has been unstoppable. He has been fast in all levels of light, as well as all types of snow and terrain. He has been on every podium but today he narrowly missed the top step. He straddled on course and after finishing with the fastest time, he was disqualified.

Mother nature provided one last challenge for the race crew in Palisades Tahoe. Unfortunately, the second run occurred in the middle of a heavy snowstorm. However, thanks to their dedication, the second run ended without a hitch.

Palisades Tahoe hosted the men’s World Cup in some of the most challenging weather imaginable and they proved they were up to any task. The genuinely noteworthy takeaway from this weekend is the quality of the races, thanks to their efforts.

North American day

Neither the Stifel US Alpine Team nor Alpine Canada qualified a racer for the second run. The US slalom men had a fantastic race in Chamonix on February 4th but have struggled significantly since. The US and Canada have also failed to qualify a slalom skier for the 2023 World Cup finals in Soldeu Andora. Unfortunately, none of the Stifel US Alpine Team members scored World Cup points in Palisades Tahoe.

Race results and Analysis of the fastest four

Analysis of the fastest four