Norwegian double victory after shaking for minutes

One day after Marco Schwarz’s giant slalom triumph, the red-white-red ski aces did not play first fiddle in the Palisades Tahoe slalom in snowstorms and miserable visibility (in the decision). The music was made by others in this hundredth thriller. Above all Alexander Steen Olsen, who celebrated his first World Cup victory.

But only because AJ Ginnis was disqualified after nearly half an hour of video study for a difficult-to-find threader. The 28-year-old could have made history and given Greece its first success in history. But it wasn’t like that. Steen Olsen won ahead of his Norwegian compatriot Timon Haugan (+0.05) and Bulgaria’s Albert Popov (+0.24), who moved up 22 places in the final.

The best Austrian was Fabio Gstrein in eighth place, Manuel Feller (“I don’t understand why you take a TV break before my run given these conditions”) was 13th, Schwarz was 15th Carinthian bows. “The right person won,” said the second-placed Swiss, who can hardly be denied the big crystal ball this winter.

Since the slalom victory in Schladming in 2021, Schwarz had not been able to win a World Cup race. On Saturday he achieved the first giant slalom success for ÖSV since Marcel Hirscher’s triumph in Adelboden in 2019. “I’m very, very happy about my first giant victory,” said the 27-year-old after the race.

Goggia victory as a “consolation prize”

At the downhill in Crans-Montana, which was postponed to Sunday, Sofia Goggia celebrated her fifth win of the season in this discipline yesterday. For the Italian, it was something of a consolation prize for the botched World Cup in France, where she failed to win a medal.

“It wasn’t easy to find access to the race. You have to have confidence, it wasn’t a question of the line today,” said the 30-year-old, who won ahead of her compatriot Federica Brignone (+0.15 seconds) and Laura Gauche (Fra/+0.43).

Best Austrian was Mirjam Puchner in tenth (+0.78). At the site of their terrible falls, the World Cup medal winners Nina Ortlieb (27th place) and Cornelia Hütter (31st place) did not find the necessary effort to be at the top. “It was more trauma management,” admitted Hütter with tears in his eyes after the race.