Levi (Finland) (AFP)
For the first slalom without Marcel Hirscher, Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen beat Frenchman Clément Noël with a blast on Sunday at the first World Cup slalom this season in Levi on the Arctic night of Finland.
By standing in front of Christmas, still in the lead after the first run, his 19th World Cup victory (16 slaloms, 3 giants), Kristoffersen, fifth in the last season of the World Cup slalom, is among the favorites at the estate of the untouchable Austrian Marcel Hirscher, retired.
Fourth in the first heat in the Finnish fog, Kristoffersen got up in the second, under the falling snow, to grab the first place with a total time of 1 min 48 sec 55, 9/100 in front of the French, and 18 / 100 in front of Switzerland Daniel Yule.
Despite his late start at the Sölden giant slalom in Austria at the end of October (18th), the inaugural event of the season, the 25-year-old Norwegian takes Sunday the lead of the overall World Cup standings ahead of another Frenchman, Alexis Pinturault, winner at Sölden but unable to place in the 30 qualified for the second round in Finland.
"It was really good, after Sölden's disappointment, I did not feel stressed after Sölden because I know the work that needs to be done, so I keep pushing," said Kristoffersen, who had already won the slalom at Levi in 2014.
As in 2014, the Norwegian was congratulated by Santa Claus, present for the occasion, and was given a reindeer, traditional trophy for the one who wins in Finnish Lapland.
- Night fallen, braking -
In this early post-Hirscher era, however, it was Clément Noël who was first fastest on the first track. At the age of 22, he thought he would ideally launch this season as he had left the previous one, winning in March in Andorra at Soldeu for the finals.
He had been the revelation of the season by achieving the legendary double Wengen / Kitzbühel in Swiss and Austrian legendary resorts and finishing second overall last year's slalom behind Hirscher.
But Sunday at nightfall, in the early afternoon, and under the snow in the second run, Christmas committed a slight fault, too much braking, leaving the victory to the Norwegian.
"It's my best result here at Levi and it's really a good result, of course I wanted more after the first run but I made some mistakes on the second and Henrik was better than me on this one." explained Christmas.
However, he was able to stay on his skis, unlike the British Dave Ryding, second in the first run and unfortunate the day after his fall on the second run.
The other French drivers, including Alexis Pinturault, Jean-Baptiste Grange and Victor Muffat-Jeandet, did not qualify for the second run, finishing first away from their compatriot and out of the top 30 qualifying places.
© 2019 AFP