Flachau (dpa) – The Norwegians showed great emotions, Linus Straßer took note of his next top ten placement quite soberly.
The Munich ski racer finished ninth at the World Cup in Flachau and thus at least had a small chance of winning the small crystal globe for the best slalom skier of the winter.
However, before the season finale in one and a half weeks, Straßer is 64 points behind the Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen, who is the leader in the discipline ranking. For Kristoffersen, who had won the two previous goal runs in Garmisch, it was only enough for 16th place on Wednesday. After a big mistake in the first run, he kicked a garbage can in the finish area in frustration.
His compatriot Atle Lie McGrath celebrated his first World Cup victory at the night race in Austria and threw his gloves in the air with joy. Second was Olympic champion Clement Noel from France ahead of Daniel Yule from Switzerland. The local hero Johannes Strolz, who was leading at halftime, fell back to fourth place in the catch-up race for the slalom in Zagreb, which had been canceled at the beginning of January.
In both runs he “felt good” and was “extremely stable”, analyzed Straßer. Especially in the first round, in which he was only 12th, he “didn’t really get up to speed”. All in all, he was “very satisfied with his skiing,” said the 29-year-old. “The result could certainly be better.” At least he found himself in the top ten in the fourth World Cup event in a row.
Straßer’s team colleague Anton Tremmel finished 20th. David Ketterer, Alexander Schmid, Fabian Himmelsbach and Adrian Meisen could not qualify for the second round. The last slalom of the winter will take place on March 20th in Courchevel, France.