Henrik Kristoffersen drops poker in slalom, fourth specialty cup

Timon Haugan wins the last race of the men’s World Cup, with a time of 1’43″61, ahead of Clement Noel by just 3 hundredths and Fabio Gstrein by 37. But Henrik Kristoffersen, with today’s fourth place, wins the specialty cup for the fourth time in his career, with 662 points, compared to 610 for Loic Meillard and 609 for Haugan. A Meillard capable of recovering three positions in the second run, not enough, however, to undermine the Norwegian at the top of the rankings.

Beautiful final race, which showed the very high level of men’s alpine skiing. Alex Vinatzer placed 17th, despite pain in his right tibia, injured in the Hafjell giant slalom. The Gardena native still recovered 4 positions in the second run, but failed to pick up any points.

“There are so many things to improve, however, it was a very hard season,” Vinatzer said. “Beautiful was the podium in Kitz, and the World Championship medal. But first a left tibia injury and then a right tibia injury put me in trouble. It was not easy to go all the way. We have to grow for next year.”

In the end, there were 1721 points for World Cup winner Marco Odermatt, followed by Kristoffersen with 1116 and Loic Meillard with 1076, who is a candidate for next year’s Cup victory.

Switzerland won the nations’ cup with 6695 points, mainly thanks to the speed team, which was dominant this year, well ahead of Austria with 3967 points and Norway with 3735. Italy is fifth with 2143 points, also behind France.