Ski racer Linus Straßer also achieved a top ten placement in the tight and atmospheric night slalom in Madonna di Campiglio. The World Cup ninth-place finisher from Munich finished ninth on the icy Miramonti slope before the short World Cup Christmas break, as he did in Gurgl/Austria.
After a weaker first run and a good second run, Straßer ended up 0.64 seconds behind winner Marco Schwarz (Austria), who thus took first place in the overall World Cup from Swiss Marco Odermatt. Odermatt does not compete in the slalom.
“It would have been entirely possible to finish on the podium,” said Straßer, “but the slope here is merciless.”
Two days before Christmas Eve, the Frenchman with the apt name Clement Noel (+0.25) came second ahead of the Brit Dave Ryding (+0.39), who raced onto the podium from 15th place.
Straßer would have been able to take third place just a quarter of a second less – a podium place was “only a matter of time,” he said in the “BR”.
Sebastian Holzmann, fifth in the World Championships, fell from 18th to 27th place after a weak second round.
“There were some uncertainties. I’m not satisfied at all. That was unclean and sloppy,” he complained. Anton Tremmel (+1.58) came 21st, Fabian Himmelsbach was eliminated in the first round.
The next World Cup races are downhill and super-G on December 28th and 29th on the “Stelvio” in Bormio.