All hail Henrik! New king of slalom asserts himself in Adelboden

ADELBODEN, Switzerland – After yesterday’s cancelled giant slalom, race organizers were hell-bent on having at least one race down the legendary Chuenisbaergli course in Adelboden. After firehoses, an army of workers, and endless buckets of salt were used to firm up the snow for first run, racing finally got underway with a stadium packed full of flag-waving Swiss fans. After an exhilarating second run, Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen came away with his third victory of the season, beating out Austrian Marcel Hirscher for the win by a scant 0.06 seconds with a blistering final split. Russian Alexander Khoroshilov was third, 0.60 seconds back.

Sitting in third place after the morning’s run, Kristofferson wasn’t about to let the victory slip away without a fight and attacked the course with an aggressive style that all have grown accustomed to seeing this season. Making the infamously steep bottom pitch look easy, Kristoffersen crossed the line 0.89 seconds in the lead and then waited as only Hirscher and Khoroshilov remained to challenge. Neither racer could match Kristoffersen’s pace, however, and the young phenom walked away with yet another slalom win.

“It’s pretty unbelievable actually,” an elated Kristoffersen said in the finish. “That was a really tight race, close race between Marcel and me, but to win here in Adelboden in front of that many spectators and it being a real classic is great. There have been so many big legends winning here before me that to be on that list is really cool.”

The win puts the Norwegian 40 points clear of Hirscher in the overall slalom standings. A battle of epic proportions is brewing between Kristoffersen and Hirscher for the slalom globe this season, as the duo is over 150 points clear of Khoroshilov, currently third place in the standings.

For Hirscher, crossing the finish only 0.06 seconds back was a tough pill to swallow at the time. But after reflecting on how the day started out, he was more than satisfied with another podium.

“At the beginning, when I crossed the finish line, I was a little bit mad about two stupid little mistakes on the last part of the course,” Hirscher explained. “In general, with the second place, I’m super happy. The whole day was very crazy. In the early morning, a lot of heavy snowfall and bad visibility during the first run. In the second run, big ruts, big bumps everywhere so really tough, tough skiing in the slalom today.”

Khoroshilov sat in first place after the first run, and, in fact, has won the first run in each of the last two World Cup slaloms. However, the Russian has yet to hold on for a win this season, as he also settled for third place last week in Santa Caterina.

“I don’t think I missed anything. I am on the podium and Henrik had a really good second run and also Hirscher,” he said. “Many other athletes also skied really, really fast in the second run. In the start, I was a little bit nervous, but right before the start I was pretty calm and I tried to ski really fast. I think on the top I was good, but then on the bottom, maybe I got tired a little bit.”

The American contingent was led by David Chodounsky in 20th place. Chodounsky sat in 10th after the morning run and was eager to attack and move up into another top-five finish, but was unable to hold on and unfortunately slipped back in the wet second run.

A bright spot on an otherwise cloudy day came from American Michael Ankeny, who managed to score his first-ever World Cup points with a solid 21st-place finish. Sitting in 30th place after the first run, Ankeny was afforded a clean course for the second run and skied well enough to secure some hard-earned points after several years of underwhelming results at the World Cup level.

“It’s kind of an indescribable feeling,” a delighted Ankeny, who made his World Cup debut in 2011, said in the finish. “I ran first, came down through the finish line and having the whole stadium erupt, not knowing where I stand, but feeling good about my skiing, It’s pretty indescribable and it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I’ll forever remember.”

The men’s tour now heads to Wengen, Switzerland, for the legendary Lauberhorn downhill, combined, and slalom races scheduled for Jan. 12-17.

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The Scoop
By Hank McKee

1. Kristoffersen, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
2. Hirscher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3. Khoroshilov, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
4. Pinturault, Head/Head/Head
5. Gross, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
6. Feller, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7. Zenhaeuseren, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
8. Neureuther, Nordica/Nordica/Marker
9. Dopfer, Nordica/Nordica/Marker
10. Razzoli, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer

• Men’s World Cup slalom, Adelboden, Switzerland, Jan. 10, 2016. … It is the 16^th of 45 races on the men’s World Cup schedule … the fifth of 11 originally scheduled slaloms, fifth of 10 remaining. … It is the 59^th World Cup race hosted by Adelboden … the 14^th slalom. … Stefano Gross won the last slalom at the site, Jan. 11, 2015.
• It is the seventh career World Cup win for Henrik Kristoffersen … his sixth in slalom. … It is his third win, all in slalom, this season. … The winning margin is 0.06 of a second. … Top four are within the same second. … Top 13 within two seconds. … Kristoffersen is one win behind Finn Christian Jagge for the Norwegian all-time slalom win mark.
• It is the 81^st career World Cup podium for Marcel Hirscher … his ninth of the season in 10 completed races.
• It is the fifth career World Cup podium for Alexander Khoroshilov, all of them in slalom. … It is his second consecutive slalom podium.
• It is the fourth score of the season for David Chodounsky, the third in slalom. … It is his fourth scoring finish at Adelboden, all in slalom. … It is the first World Cup scoring finish for Michael Ankeny.
• Hirscher extends his lead of the World Cup overall standings to 801-636 over Aksel Lund Svindal (did not race). … Kristoffersen is third overall with 571pts. … Ted Ligety (DNF 1^st) is eighth overall with 248pts.
• Kristoffersen leads the slalom standings 380-340 over Hirscher. … Khoroshilov is third with 174pts. … Chodounsky is eighth with 90pts.
• Austria leads the men’s Nations Cup standings 2448-1938 over Norway. … France is third with 1831pts. … The U.S. is fifth at 1036 and Canada ninth with 270pts.

Official Results