Norway's Kristoffersen clinches slalom title, teammate Haugan closes World Cup season with win
SUN VALLEY, Idaho (AP) — Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway clinched the season-long slalom title Thursday by taking fourth in a race won by teammate Timon Haugan to close out the World Cup finals.
After finishing, Kristoffersen dropped to the snow and pounded his chest. He held off Swiss racer Loic Meillard in the standings to earn his fourth slalom crystal globe. Haugan's win propelled him into third place in the standings.
Haugan, the first-run leader, found a smooth line through a deteriorating course to finish in a combined time of 1 minute, 43.61 seconds. He beat Clement Noel of France by 0.03 seconds as the World Cup season came to a close. Austria's Fabio Gstrein took third.
Kristoffersen has been the model of consistency this season. He's been inside the top eight in 11 of 12 World Cup slalom races this season, including two wins. He joins Alberto Tomba with four slalom World Cup crystal globes, which trails Ingemar Stenmark (eight) and Marcel Hirscher (six).
Linus Strasser of Germany had a close call in his first run when a course worker walked onto the hill and through his line while he was competing. Strasser just kept right on going. He finished the day in sixth place.
American Benjamin Ritchie had a fast final run to move up to seventh place.
The final overall World Cup standings on the men's side saw Marco Odermatt of Switzerland finish with 1,721 points, Kristoffersen earn 1,116 and Meillard 1,076.
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