SCHLADMING, Austria — On Wednesday evening, Timon Haugan secured a victory in the men’s World Cup night slalom, marking the second win for the Norwegian ski team in just two days. Haugan surpassed Austrian competitors Manuel Feller and Fabio Gstrein, celebrating his second triumph of the season shortly after his teammate Alexander Steen Olsen claimed victory in a giant slalom on the same course the previous day.
“This is incredible, and this win feels like the best one yet. Schladming has a unique atmosphere,” Haugan remarked following his performance. This event was the last men’s slalom prior to the world championships scheduled for February 4-16 in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, where Haugan was victorious last March during the World Cup finals hosted by the resort. He acknowledged, “With my recent win and the victory in Saalbach last year, it’s challenging not to feel like one of the favorites.”
In front of a crowd of 22,500 spectators, Haugan moved up from a second-place position as Linus Strasser, the first-run leader and last year’s night race winner, slipped to fourth. Strasser had a significant lead of over three-tenths of a second going into the final run but gradually lost time at each checkpoint.
Since his consecutive victories in the Kitzbuehel and Schladming classics last year, Strasser has not seen a win. Six days ahead of the world championships, Feller and Gstrein celebrated their first slalom podium finishes of the season for Austria. Feller, the reigning World Cup slalom champion, has faced challenges maintaining the level of performance that earned him the title. For Gstrein, this marked his initial top-three finish in the World Cup after narrowly missing out several times, including a recent fifth-place result at the classic slalom in Adelboden.
In terms of elite competitors, Olympic champion Clement Noel, who previously topped the discipline standings after winning four races, including last Sunday in Kitzbuehel, finished 0.71 seconds off the lead in the first run but did not finish his second run.
As a result of Noel’s failure to score points, Henrik Kristoffersen climbed back to the top of the slalom season standings, leading by a slim margin of three points over the French athlete. Kristoffersen completed the race in eighth place, 1.18 seconds behind his Norwegian teammate Haugan.
There is only one more race on the men’s World Cup calendar before the championships: a downhill event taking place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, this coming Sunday.
