Braathen wins stunningly in the World Cup slalom in Wengen
Lucas Braathen, who moved up from 29th place after the first run, scored an impressive victory in a World Cup slalom on Sunday.
According to the report, no skier has made such a jump in the standings to win a two-heat men’s World Cup race in at least 20 years ski-db.com Database.
Braathen sat in the finish area leader’s pits for 45 minutes, looking increasingly disbelieving and then in tears, before watching the last racer. His Norwegian teammate Henrik Kristoffersen then skipped a goal within sight of a clear win.
The mistake handed victory to Braathen, who was nearly a second quicker than either rival in heat two on snow breaking up in the warm sun, before Kristoffersen started two seconds clear to defend his lead.
In the end, Braathen was 0.22 seconds ahead of Daniel Yule of Switzerland. 2010 Olympic champion Giuliano Razzoli of Italy, aged 37, was third, 0.29 back, his best result in six years.
Braathen’s victory was also notable for starting the day among the lower-ranked number 31 racers.
It was the second Sunday in a row that a Swiss slalom was won by an outsider Johannes Strolz wore number 38 to victory in nearby Adelboden.
“Words cannot describe how grateful I am,” said 21-year-old Braathen, whose rank declined afterwards a knee injury at the end of the season a year ago crash across the finish line in the giant slalom in Adelboden.
Braathen showed his talent before this serious injury when he won the season-opening giant slalom in Sölden, Austria in October 2020.
Braathen had also been quick in Sunday’s first heat until he lost his rhythm in the bottom half and qualified just inside the top 30 racers who qualified for stage two.
“After my mistake in the first run, I wanted to make up for it in the second,” said Braathen, whose father is Norwegian and mother is Brazilian.
Passing 28 competitors for victory beat the performance of Marc Berthod in January 2007, who improved from 27th place to victory in the Adelboden slalom in the morning run. Berthod was in Wengen on Sunday working for Swiss TV filming his run at each track to show the audience the eyes of a racer.
Braathen was helped by taking advantage of heat two’s snow surface and a goal setting designed by a Norwegian team coach early on.
Several racers fell in a steep and tricky middle section. Italy’s Alex Vinatzer lost a ski, Christian Hirschbühl of Austria lost both and Luca Aerni of Switzerland was thrown high out of the snow with both skis.
All three men on the podium achieved their best results of the season, and Yule’s second place was the best by a Swiss slalom skier at Wengen in 23 years.
Razzoli now has four consecutive top-10 finishes in a career-reviving season leading up to the Beijing Olympics next month.
A highly unpredictable season in men’s slalom has now seen four different race winners, two of whom started outside of the top 30 racers, and lost two wire-to-wire wins in the final meters (yards).
Kristoffersen appeared to have a second advantage as he ran out with four goals to go. Last month in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, Clément Noël threw away a dominant win when he fell and slid down the wrong side of the final goal.
Braathen is now third in the standings for the season and Yule second behind Norwegian world champion Sebastian Foss-Solevaag, who finished sixth on Sunday.
The slalom skiers are now traveling to Austria to contest the legendary night slalom in Kitzbühel next Sunday and two days later in Schladming.
___
More AP Skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/skiing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports