Kristoffersen gets 2nd win in 2 days, leads slalom standings

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP) —

Henrik Kristoffersen came from behind to win his second men’s World Cup slalom in two days Sunday after the top three skiers from the first run all failed to finish.

Kristoffersen became the first skier this season with multiple slalom victories after the previous seven races had seven different winners.

Kristoffersen was eighth after the opening leg, but the Norwegian took the lead with the fourth-fastest time in the final run.

Kristoffersen then watched as the next seven racers all failed to beat his time, with four of them not even making it to the finish.

“That’s a shame, that’s never how you want to win it but, still, this is part of the game, part of the sport, so I’m super happy for another win,” Kristoffersen said.

The top three after the first run – Swiss skiers Loïc Meillard and Ramon Zenhäusern and Austria’s Johannes Strolz – all straddled a gate on the icy course, where the first few gates were set to create unusually sharp turns, making it hard to find rhythm from the start.

World champion Sebastian Foss-Solevåg also straddled and failed to score World Cup points.

The course was set by Tristan Glasse-Davies, the coach of Dave Ryding, and suited the British skier well, as he climbed from 19th to second, 0.35 behind Kristoffersen.

Ryding’s fifth career podium came five weeks after he became the first British winner in the World Cup at the prestigious slalom in Kitzbühel.

“It was a course for real men in the second run,” Kristoffersen said. “This is not for the boys, this is for the men, for sure.”

Linus Straßer of Germany was 0.47 behind in third, and Lucas Braathen improved from 24th to fourth.

Braathen lost his lead in the slalom standings to teammate Kristoffersen, who has 356 points. Braathen is second on 307, Straßer third on 278.

The season calendar includes two more slaloms: a night race in Flachau on March 9 and the season closer at the World Cup Finals in Méribel starting on March 14.

Olympic champion Clément Noël skied out for the second straight day and is out of the race for the season slalom title.

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