Johannes Strolz clinches first World Cup win at slalom in Adelboden
The 29-year-old Austrian surprises slalom elite with his first World Cup win
Alpine Skiing
Johannes Strolz earned the first World Cup win of his career clinching the slalom in Adelboden on Sunday (9 January).
Wearing bob number 38 the 29-year-old Austrian, only seventh after the first run, put down an impressive second run in heavy snowfall to win in one minute 50.05 seconds, 0.17 seconds ahead of his teammate Manuel Feller.
Germany's Linus Strasser was 0.29 seconds behind in third.
"It is just unbelievable. I just tried to do my best and push to the limit and it worked out too well. I struggled so many times in my career and finally it all came together today, " said Strolz who previously had a career-best finish of 10th in more than eight years on the World Cup circuit.
His victory catapulted him into third spot in the slalom standings with 100 points behind the joint leaders Sebastian Foss-Solevaag and Kristoffer Jakobsen (both 140).
Feller and his teammate Fabio Gstrein were tied for the lead after the first run and just 0.05 seconds ahead of Switzerland's Luca Aerni, with Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen only a further 0.04 behind in fourth.
It was tight race as more than 20 skiers were within one second of Feller and Gstrein after the first leg while world slalom champion Foss-Solevaag (Norway) and France's Clement Noël crashed out early.