Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Austria’s Stefan Brennsteiner captured his first alpine World Cup win on Friday, storming to victory in the men’s giant slalom at Copper Mountain, where Swiss superstar Marco Odermatt failed to finish the first run. Brennsteiner, leader after the first run, dug in on the second to win with a total time of 2min 30.98sec — 95-hundredths of a second ahead of Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen. Croatian Filip Zubcic was third, one second behind the winner.
“It means a lot for me,” said Brennsteiner. “The last years were quite good but I had tough times in my career. I’m 33 or 34 years old now and my first World Cup win feels just amazing.” He had posted the fastest time as the first out of the gate on the first run, and his 11th-quickest time on the second run was enough for the triumph.
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“I was pretty excited yesterday when I heard (bib) number one because the conditions are amazing down here and to ski on such a course with number one is one of the most beautiful things which you can imagine in ski racing,” Brennsteiner said. “Nice that it was fast as well! My first run was a little bit easier with number one; there were no tracks, so it’s not that exhausting. But the second run, the last five or six gates I was thinking: ‘just go on the edge and just stay high and withhold the pressure.'”
Odermatt, the four-time defending World Cup overall champion and winner of the super-G on Thursday, went off course on the first run after losing his balance rounding a right-hand gate. He had been ahead of the pace set by Brennsteiner at the time of his mistake. He failed to finish a World Cup race for the first time in almost a year, ending a streak of 23 finishes inside the top seven. He had opened the season — highlighted by the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in February — with a giant slalom win in Soelden last month.
He still leads the overall standings on 200 points, with Austrian Marco Schwarz — fourth on Friday — second on 166 and Kristoffersen third on 158. Brennsteiner seized the lead in the giant slalom standings with 150 points ahead of Schwarz (130), Kristoffersen (116), and Odermatt (100).
The alpine World Cup circuit is back at Copper Mountain this year for the first time since 2001. After two men’s races, the women will race a giant slalom and slalom on Saturday and Sunday.
© 2024 AFP
