Henrik Kristoffersen bounces back with spectacular slalom win in Chamonix
After failing to finish on Saturday, the Norwegian won his second World Cup race this season as he edged past Switzerland's Ramon Zenhaeusern and Sandro Simonet in third.
Alpine Skiing
Two-time Olympic medallist Henrik Kristoffersen claimed his second World Cup win of the season in the Chamonix slalom on Sunday (31 January), over a month after his last success in Madonna di Campiglio on 22 December.
The Norwegian bounced back from a disappointing performance on Saturday when he straddled the second gate.
Despite a course considerably softened by rising temperatures Kristoffersen held his lead from the first run and finished 0.28 seconds ahead of Ramon Zenhaeusern of Switzerland.
The surprise of the day was fellow Swiss skier Sandro Simonet, who recorded the fastest time in the second run and ended in third, moving up from 30th in the opening round.
It was Kristoffersen's 19th World Cup victory in slalom and his 23rd overall, equalling Kjetil Jansrud in second place among Norwegians on most wins in all disciplines.
''I could have skied like this yesterday if it wasn't for the straddle at the second gate," Kristoffersen told FIS after the race.
"I feel really good on this kind of snow. Here the course set doesn't matter, when I have the set-up that I had today."
The 26-year-old had a rollercoaster season so far:
"This year has been really difficult for sure until now. We've been struggling with the set-up on icy snow from the start of January until now. Today I could just ski."
Alexis Pinturault couldn't capitalise on his first-run second-best time and finished tied for eighth.
The Frenchman holds a comfortable margin in the overall standings over Austria's Marco Schwarz who came in sixth and failed to podium in slalom only for the second time this season.
Saturday's winner Clement Noel was looking for his third consecutive win on 'La Verte des Houches.'
However, a mistake in the first run cost him dearly, and he didn't qualify for the following leg.
The men's tour will continue next weekend with two speed races (Super G, downhill) in Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany, the last event ahead of the world championships in Cortina.
In the meantime the second women's Super G in Garmisch scheduled for today (31 January) has been postponed to 1 February due to the thick fog blanketing part of the course.