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The only 21-year-old Norwegian Atle Lie McGrath makes himself the World Cup winner, Daniel Yule ensures the 3rd Swiss slalom podium of the season.
The pedestal
- 1. Atle Lie McGrath (NOR) 1:52.51 minutes
- 2. Clément Noël (FRA) +0.29 seconds
- 3. Daniel Yule (SUI) +0.64 seconds
The 9th slalom race of the current winter produced the 8th winner. And with Atle Lie McGrath even a premiere winner. The only 21-year-old “Viking” put everything on one card in the second run and conjured up a dream run in the snow in Flachau, where the slalom in Zagreb, which had been canceled in January, was made up for under floodlights. So far, the Norwegian had been on a World Cup podium 3 times, the last time at the end of January in the slalom in Schladming.
McGrath’s luck, as well as that of Daniel Yule, who made it onto the podium in third place, was above all Johannes Strolz’ bad luck. A lead of almost a second at half-time was not enough for the combination Olympic gold winner and Adelboden winner. The Austrian fell back to fourth place.
For the Valaisian Yule, 0.02 seconds ultimately spoke for a podium finish, the third this season for a Swiss ski slalom specialist. The 29-year-old thus managed to take revenge on behalf of the team for the last defeat he suffered in Garmisch with a collective failure in the second run. Between McGrath and Yule was Frenchman Clément Noël.
Duel for the crystal ball: Braathen cannot benefit
In the discipline classification, the decision will only be made at the showdown in the Savoy, supposedly between Norwegian teammates Henrik Kristoffersen and Lucas Braathen. Braathen, 21, failed to gain ground on the three-ball winner. Kristoffersen, last double winner in Garmisch, almost dropped himself out of the race in the first run after a late mistake (see following video). As 28th, he had just slipped into heat 2 and advanced to 16th place in the reprise.
Braathen went in the other direction: After intermediate 7th place, he used the crowbar too much and slipped down to 15th place. He reduced his deficit by only 1 point and still has a handicap of 48 points.
The other Swiss
- 10. Luca Aerni +1.01
- 17. Loïc Meillard +1.41
- 21. Ramon Zenhauser +1.89
- 22. Tanguy Nef +2.15
- 26. Marc Rochat +3.73
In the Swiss team, behind Yule Luca Aerni, he achieved his second-best result in winter 2021/22. Thanks to a strong 2nd performance, the man from Bern improved from 22nd to 10th place. The rest were again beaten because there was no confirmation in the final.
In his second World Cup appearance, Fadri Janutin was not able to double in the same refreshing style as on his debut. 10 days ago in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the Bündner with start number 56 had reached the 2nd run and then finished 17th for the best and at the same time only countable Swiss result. The 22-year-old was 32nd in Flachau, a measly 9 hundredths of a second to make the decision with the top 30.
The good bye
In the first run in Salzburgerland, Manfred Mölgg was again given a big stage. The now 39-year-old South Tyrolean, who has won three medals at the World Championships and the World Cup, said goodbye to ski racing. Mölgg had and caused goosebumps. Since the beginning of 2003, the technology evergreen has contested a total of 329 World Cup races.
Here’s how to proceed
There are 6 men’s races remaining in the 2021/22 World Cup season, all of which will be broadcast live on SRF as usual. After the double giant slalom next weekend in Kranjska Gora, each discipline will be given another chance at the World Cup final in Courchevel (March 16th to 20th).