Latest news with #Kristoffersen
Associated Press
27-03-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
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.
Reuters
16-03-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Meillard keeps alive slalom World Cup title hopes
HAFJELL, Norway, March 16 (Reuters) - Reigning world champion Loic Meillard kept alive his World Cup Alpine skiing slalom title hopes by winning the season's penultimate race in the discipline in Norway on Sunday. The Swiss skier followed up Saturday's giant slalom victory in Hafjell with a win that slashed Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen's lead in the standings to 47 points with 100 remaining to be won. Norway's Atle Lie McGrath was second and Norwegian-born Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who now skis for Brazil, was third. The final, decisive race of the season is in Sun Valley, Idaho, on March 27. France's 2022 Olympic champion Clement Noel, seventh on Sunday, is also in the running mathematically but 86 points behind Kristoffersen, who was fifth on home snow. The slalom crystal globe is the only one Switzerland's Marco Odermatt cannot win this season. Odermatt has already clinched the overall, super-G and giant slalom globes and leads the downhill standings. "It's still a big gap, so he (Kristoffersen) has to fail a little bit and I have to do something pretty special like today," said Meillard. "It's going to be a nice fight until the end."
Express Tribune
16-03-2025
- Sport
- Express Tribune
Odermatt takes 4th straight overall World title
Marco Odermatt clinched the men's overall and giant slalom World Cup Alpine skiing crystal globes for the fourth year in a row on Saturday after finishing second in a Swiss podium sweep. Compatriot Loic Meillard was the winner of the penultimate giant slalom of the season in Hafjell, Norway, with Thomas Tumler third. Odermatt, 27, has already secured the super-G globe for the third year in a row and is runaway favourite to also clinch the downhill one at the World Cup finals in Sun Valley, Idaho, next week. Odermatt now has 1,596 points in the overall standings, 635 more than closest Norwegian rival Henrik Kristoffersen -- only 16th on home snow on Saturday -- with only 500 points still available to be won. The overall title was already effectively a formality since Kristoffersen does not do the speed events, although he had the option at the finals. The Swiss is only the third Alpine skier to win four overall titles in a row after Austria's Annemarie Moser-Proell and Marcel Hirscher. "It's unbelievable, two more globes on my side," said Odermatt after finishing 0.14 of a second slower than Meillard to go 106 points clear of Kristoffersen. "The big one, I already felt like I had it but the GS one was still a big fight with Henrik and he skied so good in Kranjska Gora and my GS shape is probably not on the very best level like I skied last year. "So I'm so happy with the second place today." Odermatt said the GS globe was a different experience this year, with two blanks at the start of the season after 12 previous wins in a row left him having to catch up. "To win this globe, with this little bumpy road, is amazing," he said, looking forward to enjoying the World Cup finals without pressure. "It's definitely a different kind of skiing if you know you are super-close to the globe but not done it yet, there is no space for error," he added. "It helps a lot to have this GS globe in the pocket and just focus now on the last one in downhill." REUTERS
Japan Times
16-03-2025
- Sport
- Japan Times
Alpine star Marco Odermatt clinches fourth straight overall World Cup title
Marco Odermatt clinched the men's overall and giant slalom World Cup Alpine skiing crystal globes for the fourth year in a row on Saturday after finishing second in a Swiss podium sweep. Compatriot Loic Meillard was the winner of the penultimate giant slalom of the season in Hafjell, Norway, with Thomas Tumler finishing third. Odermatt, 27, had already secured the super-G globe for the third year in a row and is the runaway favorite to also clinch the downhill title at the World Cup finals in Sun Valley, Idaho, next week. Odermatt now has 1,596 points in the overall standings, 635 more than closest Norwegian rival Henrik Kristoffersen — only 16th on home snow on Saturday — with only 500 points still available to be won. The overall title was already effectively a formality since Kristoffersen does not do the speed events, although he had the option at the finals. The Swiss is only the third Alpine skier to win four overall titles in a row after Austria's Annemarie Moser-Proell and Marcel Hirscher. "It's unbelievable, two more globes on my side," said Odermatt after finishing 0.14 of a second slower than Meillard to go 106 points clear of Kristoffersen. "The big one, I already felt like I had it but the GS one was still a big fight with Henrik and he skied so good in Kranjska Gora and my GS shape is probably not on the very best level like I skied last year. "So I'm so happy with the second place today." Odermatt said the GS globe was a different experience this year, with two blanks at the start of the season after 12 previous wins in a row left him having to catch up. "To win this globe, with this little bumpy road, is amazing," he said, adding he was looking forward to enjoying the World Cup finals without pressure. "It's definitely a different kind of skiing if you know you are super close to the globe but not done it yet, there is no space for error," he added. "It helps a lot to have this GS globe in the pocket and just focus now on the last one in downhill." Odermatt is set to be the star of the men's Alpine events at next year's Milano-Cortina Olympics, with the Swiss already an Olympic gold medalist in giant slalom in 2022 and triple world champion in giant slalom (2023), super-G (2025) and downhill (2023). Giant slalom world champion Raphael Haaser of Austria crashed heavily but was able to stand up and ski to the finish area.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Swiss ski star Odermatt secures overall and GS World Cup titles in race won by teammate Meillard
HAFJELL, Norway (AP) — Swiss ski star Marco Odermatt didn't win the race, but he did earn two crystal globes and set a national record in Alpine skiing on Saturday. Odermatt finished second behind teammate Loic Meillard in a World Cup giant slalom to formally lock up his fourth straight overall and GS titles. The only remaining challenger for the overall title, Henrik Kristoffersen, needed to finish the race well ahead of Odermatt to keep his mathematical chance alive, but the Norwegian finished in 16th place. 'Yeah, it's unbelievable, two more globes on my side,' said Odermatt, who extended his lead to 635 points over Kristoffersen in the overall standings with only five events remaining. Clinching the title was a formality since Kristoffersen doesn't compete in speed events, though the Norwegian would have the right to start in super-G and downhill at the World Cup finals in Sun Valley, Idaho, which begin next weekend. The result also gave the 27-year-old Odermatt an insurmountable lead in the GS standings, where runner-up Kristoffersen is trailing by 106 points with only the season-ending race remaining. 'The big one I already felt like I had it, but the GS one was still a big fight with Henrik,' Odermatt said. 'He skied so good in Kranjska Gora (two weeks ago) and my GS shape is probably not at the very, very best level like I skied last year.' Odermatt started the season with two DNF's in giant slalom, leaving him on zero points after two races, but won three times in the course of the season. 'This GS globe has a different story. The last three years I really started well ... I wore the red (leader's) bib from the first until the last race and was almost all season pretty clear ahead,' the Swiss standout said. 'This year I started with two zero points, so I really had to come from the back and win race by race .... To win this globe on this little bumpy road is amazing.' Odermatt also set a Swiss record with his 87th career World Cup podium, moving him one past the previous best mark set by Pirmin Zurbriggen in 1990. Odermatt became the sixth skier in men's World Cup history with at least four overall titles, but only the second to win four in a row. Austrian standout Marcel Hirscher won a record eight consecutive titles in 2012-19. It has become typical for Odermatt to lock up the overall title even before the season-ending races at the World Cup finals. His point-advantages in the final standings only grew over the years, from leading runner-up Aleksander Aamodt Kilde by 467 and 702 points, respectively, in his first two years as overall champion, to beating Meillard by 874 points last season. Odermatt already secured the super-G championship last week and is favorite to add the downhill title as well. Winning four globes would mean a repeat of his achievement from last season. Ahead of the last downhill next week, Odermatt leads teammate and world champion Franjo von Allmen by 83 points. Odermatt will win the title if he finishes 15th or better, or if Von Allmen does not win the race. 'It's definitely a different kind of skiing if you know you are super close to the globe but not done it yet,' Odermatt said. 'There is no space for error, so it helps a lot to have this GS globe in the pocket and just focus now on the last one in downhill.' Kristoffersen still has a chance to win a globe this season, as he holds a commanding 77-point lead in the slalom standings ahead of Sunday's race. In Saturday's GS on a course set by Swiss coach Julien Vuignier, Meillard led a Swiss sweep of the podium, leading Odermatt by 0.14 seconds and third-place Thomas Tumler by 0.23. 'I think it's the first time we do it in GS, three Swiss guys on the podium for our team," Meillard said. "So, that's something special that we are going to remember.' Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, chasing Brazil's first-ever top-level ski race win since his switch from the Norwegian federation this season, briefly led the race in the second run before being bumped into fourth by the Swiss trio. American racer River Ramadus finished seventh to match his best result of the season from a giant slalom in Beaver Creek, Colorado in December. Calgary's Erik Read didn't qualify. World champion Raphael Haaser had a nasty crash when the Austrian straddled a gate, went airborne and landed on his upper back. He was attended to by medics and got up with a bloodied face before sliding down to the finish area on one ski. ___ AP skiing: The Associated Press
