December 13, 2017
Persistent and heavy snowfall started early this morning and went on through the day. The “Criterium de la Première Neige” in Val d’Isère is aptly named ideed.
However, this didn’t prevent the best slalom skiers to tackle the famous “Face de Bellevarde” and showcase their talent.
In the first run, Italy’s Stefano Gross clocked the fastest time. The Adelboden winner of 2015 claimed two podiums last season, bringing his career record to 11 podiums. But as in Kranjska Gora, he wasn’t able to use this important advantage to claim his second World Cup victory.
Today’s World Cup win came from the athlete ranked 8th after the first leg, the impressive Marcel Hirscher. The Austrian superstar, who already finished 3rd of the giant slalom yesterday, pushed hard in the second run and none of the eight contenders coming after him were able to beat him.
Norways’ Henrik Kirstoffersen, who won the two previous editions in the slalom of Val d’Isère, also moved up from his first run performance (5th place) to earn a 24th podium in slalom.
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In third place, André Myhrer was able to take the 20th slalom podium in his career. The Swede has won the slalom of the World Cup finals in the two previous years, but somehow struggled to find his rhythm between those events.This slalom concluded the men’s races in Val d’Isère.
The ladies will take over the hill with speed races on “La Daille” and the men will move to Italy to start compete in Val Gardena on 15th and 16th December.
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