Kristoffersen seals title after 'totally crazy' slalom season
Kristoffersen seals title after 'totally crazy' slalom season
Norwegians took the top two places in the final men's slalom of the World Cup season on Sunday with Atle Lie McGrath winning the race and Henrik Kristoffersen sealing the discipline title.
"It's been a good day for sure," said Kristoffersen after finishing second to claim the title, adding that the slalom season, which went down to the last race, had been "totally crazy."
Kristoffersen entered the final race leading the slalom standings but battling a third Norwegian, Lucas Braathen, for the title.
On a course set by their team coach, Braathen was fastest in the first run, a narrow 0.05sec ahead of Kristoffersen with McGrath third.
On the second run, McGrath made mistakes but recovered. Kristoffersen then delivered a solid run to put the pressure on Braathen who went last.
Braathen struggled, recording the 21st fastest second-run time on a demanding course to slide from first to 11th.
Austrian Manuel Feller jumped to third and also climbed to second in the final slalom standings.
Braathen beat Kristoffersen by 0.37sec with Feller at 0.77sec.
The next two places were occupied by skiers from nations with less tradition of Alpine success.
Bulgarian Albert Popov was fourth and Spaniard Joaquim Salarich was fifth.
They made an unlikely pair as they embraced in the finish area. Popov stands 5ft 3ins (1.57cm) while Salarich is 6ft 2ins.
Kristoffersen claimed his third small slalom globe, but this victory was tighter than the previous two.
"Today was a really good exercise for me because its the first time I fight for a globe where you have to do good on the last day to win the globe," he said.
"I think I should have secured it before but there have been so many great slalom skiers this year and the slalom season has been the most fun for fans to watch. It's been totally crazy."
Kristoffersen finished the season 90 points ahead of Kristoffersen. McGrath, who won the last two races, rose to third.
His result also took him to take third place in the overall ranking, behind Switzerland's Marco Odermatt and his compatriot Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who did not race on Sunday.
(H.Duplantier--LPdF)
