World champion Henrik Kristoffersen secured his first men’s World Cup slalom victory in nearly two years on Sunday. Kristoffersen delivered two flawless runs on the challenging Face de Bellevarde course, finishing 0.52 seconds ahead of his Norwegian teammate Atle Lie McGrath and 0.89 seconds faster than Loic Meillard of Switzerland.
This win marked Kristoffersen’s first since his triumph at the 2023 World Championships in February. His victory was partly due to some good fortune, as Olympic champion Clement Noel was absent due to injury, and Steven Amiez, the leader after the first run, fell during his second attempt. Amiez, 26, had been hoping for his first-ever World Cup win in front of a home crowd, having previously never finished on the podium, with his best result being a fourth-place finish in Austria last month.
“First of all, I want to apologize to Steven. He’s skiing really well, and he’ll get there,” Kristoffersen, 30, said. “To the French fans, don’t worry, he will get there. And I’m sorry that Noel wasn’t able to compete. I wish we could have had a battle today.” Kristoffersen continued, “But I’m really happy with the win. It was a tough race, and sometimes having experience really helps.”
Kristoffersen celebrated his third victory in Val d’Isère, having previously won slalom races there in 2015 and 2016.
“It’s been eight years since I won here for the first time, and it feels great now because no one can say, ‘It’s been a long time, huh?’” he said, laughing.
Reflecting on his career, Kristoffersen added, “Back then, I had fewer worries and wasn’t as nervous. Now, there’s always the expectation for me to perform well, as I’ve been on the podium almost 90 times and have won many races. The pressure is always there, including from myself. But I do feel a bit calmer now that I’m a little older… maybe.”
Kristoffersen, who also leads the giant slalom standings, moved 20 points ahead of Noel in the slalom rankings. He remains at the top of the overall standings, with an 18-point lead over McGrath and a 110-point advantage over defending champion Marco Odermatt, who doesn’t compete in slalom events.
Reigning slalom World Cup champion Manuel Feller finished joint-fourth on Sunday, but the Austrian skier was likely just relieved to have completed the race.
Feller had an impressive season last year, finishing no worse than fifth in every slalom on his way to claiming the discipline title. However, he had struggled in recent races, failing to finish in his last four events, both in slalom and giant slalom.
Clement Noel won the two previous slalom races, but he withdrew from the Val-d’Isère race in the morning after injuring his ankle in the previous day’s giant slalom. Though the injury isn’t considered serious, Noel chose not to take any chances and hopes to return for the next slalom in Alta Badia in eight days.
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen tied with Feller, finishing 0.95 seconds behind Kristoffersen after a strong second run. His improvement saw him jump from 26th to briefly lead the race.
Marco Schwarz made his comeback after nearly a year of injury recovery. He was 10th after the first run, 1.73 seconds behind Amiez. However, Schwarz straddled a gate during his second run and, along with several other late skiers, failed to finish as the light conditions worsened.
