What a season! 4 Slalom Races this season and 4 different winners: Ramon Zenhaeusern in Alta Badia, Henrik Kristoffersen in Madonna di Campiglio, Linus Strasser in Zagreb and Marco Schwarz today in Adelboden.
An Exciting race today in Adelboden with Austrian Marco Schwarz earning his first career World Cup slalom victory, hanging on for the victory by 0.14 ahead of Linus Strasser and 0.15 seconds ahead of Great Britain’s Dave Ryding.
Until today, Marco Schwarz had been on the podium in Slalom seven times, but never being able to find the way to the top step. Before today his only World Cup victories came in one Alpine Combined race in Wengen in 2019 and the City Event in Oslo the same year.
"The whole team worked a lot and it feels amazing. Manu told me it's OK if I take the red bib today so I'm pretty happy about that (...) This is very special. I was sometimes in the lead and today I made it and it feels amazing to be on the top", Marco Schwarz said.
Second podium in a row for Linus Strasser. After never having earned a World cup Slalom podium in his career, he now has today’s second-place finish to add to his victory in Zagreb last week.
Rounding out the podium was veteran Dave Ryding. The lone British entry in most races, Ryding is a familiar face on the tour, but not the podium, where he has earned just one other World Cup slalom top-three finish in his long career, which came four years ago, in 2017, in Kitzbühel. Ryding was clearly elated today with his top-three finish.
Despite excellent conditions and perfect weather, many of the top-30 struggled in the second run, with nearly a third of the field making major mistakes or failing to finish all together. The famed ‘Ziel Hang’ in Adelboden, the steep last pitch of the course, was what ultimately made the difference for those sitting in the top-10, with many making costly mistakes.
Clement Noel was one of them. In the lead after the first run, he lost a lot of time on the Ziel Hang and finished in eighth place.
Victor Muffat-Jeandet, who sat in second place after the opening run straddled a gate on the upper portion of the course and finished in the last place of those who crossed the finish line.
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