The local hero is 0.12 seconds ahead of Italian Alex Vinatzer and 0.17 seconds ahead of Norwegian Sebastian Foss-Solevaag on Sunday. The giant slalom third Manuel Feller is the best Austrian in fifth place (+0.46), Fabio Gstrein was 14th after 50 runners (+1.46).
Not in the final are the Austrians Marco Schwarz, who made his comeback race after the ankle injury, and Michael Matt. The Frenchman Alexis Pinturault also failed to qualify on the demanding Face de Bellevarde after a faulty ride – which will hurt him in the fight for the overall World Cup.
“The ankle is doing very well, I didn’t feel anything. The training weeks are running out, I knew that. But I wanted to be there. Now it’s time to train well and catch up on the training deficit,” said Schwarz. The second round was not out of reach for the defender. “With the last hairpin I cut off (the swing / note) and didn’t have the pace to finish. It’s a shame, I left a lot of time there.”
Source: Nachrichten
