Alpine World Cup: Slalom ace Straßer fourth in the classic in Adelboden

Ski racer Linus Straßer achieved the liberation he had hoped for in the slalom in Adelboden. The 32-year-old finished fourth in the classic in the Bernese Oberland, achieving his best result of the season. French Olympic champion Clement Noel secured victory ahead of Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (Brazil) and Henrik Kristoffersen (Norway).

After the first round, Straßer was in second place, but in the second round he ultimately lacked the necessary speed – and was 0.97 seconds behind winner Noel. “It’s actually rarely bad, fourth place. It means that it wasn’t such a bad race,” said the relaxed-looking 32-year-old in the ZDF interview. But in the second round he lost the right track, “it’s a shame”.

Straßer had fallen short of expectations in the first part of the season and remained without points three times in a row at the end of last year. At the night slalom in Madonna di Campiglio, the Munich native showed improvement recently and took sixth place.

Three podium places so far in Adelboden

Adelboden is one of Straßer’s favorite stations in the Alpine World Cup – and that was evident this time too. He almost reached the podium for the fourth time in his career at the atmospheric event in Switzerland. In the end, he was 0.83 seconds short of third place.

The conditions were anything but easy. Snowfall and fog in the upper section of the route made it difficult for the drivers to see in the first run. But Straßer kept his perspective and went into the final in second place. In this he initially started well, but then lost his rhythm and lost a lot of time in the lower part.

Straßer’s upswing may have come at just the right time. In January there will also be the slalom highlights in Kitzbühel and Schladming, both of which the German won last season.