Alpine Skiing World Cup 2023/2024: Manuel Feller wins first slalom event of the season in Gurgl
Feller spearheaded an Austrian podium sweep on home snow winning a career third World Cup slalom victory on Saturday (18 November). Marco Schwarz finished second with Matt Michael rounding out the podium in Gurgl.
Alpine Skiing
The men’s alpine ski season finally got underway with Austrian skier Manuel Feller winning the opening FIS Ski World Cup slalom event on home snow in Gurgl on Saturday (18 November).
Feller dominated the technical event storming to his third career victory in the slalom on the World Cup circuit with a combined time of one minute, 47.23 seconds (1:47.23). He finished 0.23s ahead of compatriots Marco Schwarz (1:47.46) with Matt Michael rounding out the Austrian podium in 1:48.28.
The 31-year-old Feller’s aggressive approach paid off with the Austrian taking a commanding lead after the first run taking a nearly second advantage over reigning Olympic champion Clement Noel of France. Feller consolidated his lead with a superb second run of 54.01s while Noel had to settle for 12th place with a time of 1:49.09.
Feller’s win is his first since 2021 and only the third of his career breaking an Austrian drought that nearly stretched over two years. Johannes Strolz was the last Austrian to clinch a slalom event on the World Cup circuit when he triumphed in Adelboden, Switzerland in January 2022.
The race was the first since the shock retirement of reigning World Cup champion Lucas Braathen in October. In his absence, fellow Norwegian and world champion Henrik Kristoffersen finished in seventh place with a combined time of 1:48.43.
The reigning World Cup champion made the announcement during a press conference in Soelden, the very place where he secured his first World Cup win three years ago.
The first three alpine skiing events of the 2023/24 season – the giant slalom opener in Austria and the two cross-border downhills in Switzerland – were cancelled due to bad weather.