At 35, Sweden’s Myhrer wins challenging slalom
Demanding course foils Hirscher, Kristoffersen
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — With the favorites failing to finish the race, Swedish skier Andre Myhrer won the Olympic gold medal in men’s slalom on Thursday.
Myhrer watched as first-run leader Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway, holding a 0.21-second advantage, skied out early in the second run. Marcel Hirscher of Austria, this season’s top slalom skier, failed to even finish the first run.
Myhrer, 35, finished 0.34 seconds ahead of Ramon Zenhaeusern of Switzerland, who took an unexpected silver. The tallest man in the race at 6-feet-7-inches threw his ski poles in the air after seeing he had taken the lead before Myhrer started.
Bronze medalist Michael Matt of Austria was 0.67 behind Myhrer’s two-run time of 1 minute, 38.99 seconds. Matt’s brother Mario won gold four years ago.
Myhrer added gold to his bronze medal from the 2010 Vancouver Olympic slalom. He is the second 35-year-old man to take Alpine gold at the Pyeongchang Games after Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway won the downhill.
Hirscher went out midway through the first run in his quest for a third gold medal at the Pyeongchang Olympics. He also won the combined event and the giant slalom.
Watching both Hirscher and Kristoffersen ski out was a huge surprise. They have dominated the World Cup circuit, completing every slalom race. Hirscher came to South Korea with six wins in eight races and Kristoffersen was on the podium for all eight.
“It’s better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all,” Kristoffersen said after Thursday’s race.
Myhrer is the oldest Olympic medalist in slalom, taking the record Mario Matt set four years ago.
Victory Thursday is a remarkable turnaround for Myhrer after he left the 2014 Sochi Olympics furious after giving up his chance at a medal on a difficult course.
For the second straight Olympic slalom, Myhrer was second-fastest in the first run. But four years ago he failed to finish the second-run with gates set by the father of Ivica Kostelic, the four-time Olympic medalist from Croatia.
Myhrer criticized the course designed by Ante Kostelic, who was famous for his unorthodox series of gates which tricked several medal contenders in Sochi.
On Thursday, Hirscher went out on a first-run course set by an Austrian coach. An Italian team coach set the second run and its best medal hope, Manfred Moelgg, dropped from fourth to 12th.
A total of 54 skiers in the 106-man lineup failed to finish the first run.