Kristoffersen leads Hirscher after dominating 1st slalom run

Henrik Kristoffersen dominated the opening run of a men's World Cup night slalom yesterday, two days after failing to finish the classic Hahnenkamm race in Kitzbuehel.

The World Cup slalom champion from Norway led five-time overall champion Marcel Hirscher of Austria by 0.52 seconds on the Planai course. Thirdplace Alexander Khoroshilov of Russia was already more than a second off the lead.

Dave Ryding, who on Sunday became the first British skier in 35 years to reach a World Cup podium, shared fourth with Stefano Gross of Italy.

Alexis Pinturault of France, who is third in the overall standings behind Hirscher and Kristoffersen, was 15th and had 2.02 seconds to make up in the second run.

Kristoffersen trailed then leader Ryding by 0.14 at the second split but accelerated at the steep middle section to carve out his clear lead.

“The steep was very good, for sure,” the Norwegian said. “Marcel will attack in the second run but I know I am fast.”

Kristoffersen and Hirscher have won 16 of the last 19 slaloms. The Norwegian's DNF in his opening run in Kitzbuehel was his first in more than two years.

With a victory yesterday, Kristoffersen would become only the third skier to have won at least five slaloms in two consecutive seasons, after Swedish standout Ingemar Stenmark in the 1970s and Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg in the 1980s.

Ryding followed up on his second place in Sunday's race with another solid performance.

“The expectations have obviously gone sky-high,” he said. “So I was just thinking, with (coach) Tristan (Glasse-Davies), to go back to what we were thinking at the start of the season: Top 15, top 10 is great. Focus on good skiing. I am not really worried about the results and just try to do some good skiing.”

In front of an estimated crowd of 50,000, Ryding opened the race. At the end, the announcer in the finish area played the Gerry and the Pacemakers song “You'll Never Walk Alone.”

“That was just surreal,” said Ryding, who is a Liverpool fan. “My life sort of changed on Sunday. Walking down the street is a lot different now. It's really cool, you have to embrace it. You dream about this when you're a kid.”

The race is the last slalom before next month's world championships, though a city event in Stockholm next week also counts toward the slalom standings.