Ski racer Linus Strasser won the double from the Kitzbühel and Schladming slalom. Three days after the successful “Mission Games”, the German won the famous night race in Plana for the second time since 2022 on Wednesday. Next to him on the winner's podium were Norwegian Timon Hagan (+0.28 seconds) and last year's winner Clement Noel (+1.02) from France. Austria came away empty-handed on the domestic scene. Manuel Feller scored good points again in fifth place (+1.14).
“Of course it hurts to finish fourth and fifth at home,” Feller said in his first reaction. The discipline leader eventually missed the podium by 12/100. He was only in eighth place after the first run. At the 27th edition of the Schladming Night Slalom, ÖSV missed out on the podium for the sixth time. Before that, 2002, 2011, 2015, 2020 and 2023 were empty-handed.
It was a fifth World Cup win for Strasser, who was supported in Kitzbühel as a youngster. He is an Austrian expert. The 31-year-old achieved three of his four slalom victories here. Strasser was the first slalom rider since Henrik Kristoffersen in 2016 and finished eighth overall in the same year, winning two January classics, Kitzbühel and Schladming.
Fabio Gistrin finished tenth with his best run time
Fabio Gistrin improved himself from 26th to tenth with the best time in the second run in front of a sell-out crowd (22,500 spectators) in Styria. Again prone to errors, the Tyrolean was at least able to enjoy the spotlight in the floodlit final. Johannes Strolls was 17th and Adrian Bertl was 22nd. Dominik Raschner took over after the last division. Joshua Sturm failed to clear the qualification barrier in 32nd, and Kilian Brumstaller was eliminated. Michael Matt is missing with a flu-like infection and Marco Schwarz is missing with a knee injury.
