HAFJELL, Norway (AP) — World champion Loic Meillard won the season's penultimate men's World Cup slalom Sunday as the Swiss skier boosted his chances of taking the discipline title.
Meillard overcame a big mistake early in his final run and held on to his first-leg lead as he beat Atle Lie McGrath of Norway by 0.21 seconds. Lucas Pinheiro Braathen was 0.47 back in third.
“It was a wild second run with a few mistakes. I just wanted to fully attack, maybe even too much,” said Meillard, who also won Saturday’s giant slalom on the same hill. “It’s a dream for a tech skier to win both days, GS and slalom, and for it to happen this weekend is pretty amazing.”
Meillard's sole previous career World Cup victory in slalom came in Aspen, Colorado a year ago, though he took gold at the worlds in Austria in February.
Henrik Kristoffersen, who leads the discpline standings, won both the GS and the slalom at the previous tech weekend in Slovenia two weeks ago.
On Sunday, the Norwegian placed fifth and saw his advantage over Meillard reduced to 47 points with only the season-ending race remaining at the World Cup finals in Sun Valley, Idaho on March 27.
Kristoffersen will secure the title if he finishes third or better in that race, regardless of Meillard's result.
“It’s still a big gap,” Meillard said. “So, he has to fail it a little bit and I have to do something very special like today. So, it’s really a nice fight until the end.”
The only other racer left with a chance to win the season title is Clement Noel. The Olympic champion from France finished seventh and trails Kristoffersen by 86 points. A race win is worth 100 points.
Kristoffersen has won the slalom title three times in his career, most recently in 2022, but it would be the first career slalom globe for either Meillard or Noel.
Last year’s slalom champion, Manuel Feller, skied out in the first run, but the Austrian was already out of contention for the season title before the race.
Racing on a hill where he skied many times in his youth, Pinheiro Braathen earned his fifth podium result since taking a year off and returning to the circuit this season following a switch from the Norwegian to the Brazilian federation.
“I had so many training runs here, so many of my fundamentals come from here, Hafjell,” said Pinheiro Braathen, who is chasing Brazil’s first-ever triumph in a top-level ski race.
Hafjell hosted World Cup races for the first time since 2003.
Swiss star Marco Odermatt, who locked up the overall and giant slalom titles on Saturday, does not compete in slaloms.
The race wrapped up the regular World Cup season ahead of the finals for both men and women in Sun Valley, which open with the speed events next weekend.
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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
The Associated Press
