Steen Olsen leads Norwegian 1-2 in rain-affected GS. World champion Odermatt finishes 3rd
Steen Olsen leads Norwegian 1-2 in rain-affected GS. World champion Odermatt finishes 3rd
SCHLADMING, Austria (AP) — Alexander Steen Olsen led a Norwegian 1-2 finish ahead of Henrik Kristoffersen in a rain-affected men’s World Cup night giant slalom Tuesday, while defending overall champion Marco Odermatt finished third.
Odermatt had won the last three giant slaloms, and 15 of the last 18, but the Olympic and world champion struggled in tough conditions to find his rhythm in the opening run and had finished 0.90 behind in 12th.
The Swiss star then posted the fifth-fastest time in the second run to gain nine spots in a performance that resembled his achievement from last year in Schladming, when he finished the opening run 0.98 seconds off the lead but still managed to win the race with a frenetic final run.
“Not much went well in the first run, the second was better but also not perfect and I am on the podium with lots, lots, lots of luck,” said Odermatt, who remained in the lead of both the overall and GS standings.
“I just didn’t ski well. That can happen after two weeks of skiing downhills,” he added, referring to winning two races at the classic speed events in Wengen and Kitzbuehel.
Steen Olsen claimed his second win of the season after triumphing in the opener in Soelden in October, when he also won ahead of Kristoffersen.
On Tuesday, Steen Olsen screamed for joy after taking the lead in the race, then waited arm in arm with Kristoffersen for first-run leader Loic Meillard to finish.
After the Swiss skier had dropped to fourth, one-hundredth of a second behind his teammate Odermatt, Steen Olsen celebrated by jumping on the protective boarding of the finish area.
“That was so extremely nice after a tough slalom period, finally get it, a super good day,” said Steen Olsen, who was second after the opening run and beat teammate Kristoffersen by 0.39 seconds.
“I was thinking between the runs, ‘I’m just going to give it my best, either it’s possible or not,'” Steen Olsen said. “And I managed to just let go and ski my skiing and not think too much, so it was awesome.”
It was the last GS before next month’s world championships in Austria.
“I don’t think so much about that now, I was focused on today. Right now, I’m extremely happy,” Steen Olsen said.
Persistent rain weakened the course and low clouds in the upper part of the Planai forced organizers to lower the start gate, which reduced run times by about 14 seconds.
A night slalom on the same hill is scheduled for Wednesday.
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who switched from the Norwegian to the Brazilian federation this season, finished 12th. Pinheiro Braathen was fourth and second in the first two giant slaloms but hasn’t finished in the top 10 again in his four races since.
Alexis Pinturault, a two-time Olympic bronze medalist in GS who crashed in a super-G and was airlifted from the course in Kitzbuehel last Friday, will likely miss the rest of the season.
The French ski federation said Tuesday that Pinturault sustained a fracture of the internal tibial plateau in his right knee and was expected to gradually start rehabilitation in six weeks’ time.
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