GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP) — For years, Henrik Kristoffersen and Marcel Hirscher fought fierce battles against each other in the men’s Alpine Ski World Cup.
On Wednesday, the Norwegian and Austrian won a race together for the time since they teamed up last summer.
Kristoffersen switched equipment providers in the offseason, joining the ski brand founded by longtime rival and champion Hirscher, who retired in 2019.
“First win for Van Deer-Red Bull, it’s a good one,” Kristoffersen said after winning a night slalom.
“I can’t do more, I can’t change anything other than my ski and the setup,” said the Norwegian, pointing to his number 1 bib after crossing the finish line.
Kristoffersen dominated the field on the visibly deteriorating Gudiberg course, winning the race 1.22sec ahead of Manuel Feller, a former Austrian teammate of Hirscher’s.
Olympic champion Clément Noël was 1.46 behind in third for his first podium finish of the season after the Frenchman had failed to finish the previous two slaloms.
Competing on a challenging surface after days of mild weather, Kristoffersen had taken a lead of more than seven hundredths into the first heat to position himself for a first victory in the discipline in 11 months.
Kristoffersen won the season’s World Cup slalom title for the third time last year, but hadn’t won a race in the discipline since back-to-back victories at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in February.
Those were the first two World Cup races after the Beijing Olympics, where Kristoffersen had just lost a slalom medal in fourth place.
“Very good, for sure,” Kristoffersen said of finally winning again, after finishing the previous slaloms in sixth and second.
“I was pretty calm at the beginning, actually,” added the Norwegian. “I thought in the second race, the conditions were tough but not too bad. I’ve skied worse. There were some gates that were really nice to ski on and I think I took advantage of that quite a bit – skiing smart, not risking too much.”
Swiss skier Daniel Yule was fourth, just ahead of Stefano Gross. The Italian veteran posted the fastest time in race two and climbed from 21st after race one to earn his best result in more than three years.
Home crowd favorite Linus Strasser was second after the first leg but lost his balance and skied off in second after their ski tips intersected.
Kristoffersen’s Norwegian teammate Lucas Braathen, who led the slalom standings after winning one of the two previous races this season, completed his first run after a big mistake, but was disqualified for failing to properly clear a gate.
The leader of the general classification of the World Cup, the Swiss runner Marco Odermatt, does not compete in slalom.
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