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Norway's Kristoffersen wins Schladming slalom / Photo: ERWIN SCHERIAU - APA/AFP
NYSE - LSE
Norway's Kristoffersen wins Schladming slalom
Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen edged teammate Atle Lie McGrath to win the final men's World Cup slalom before the Winter Olympics on Wednesday.
Kristoffersen, 31, had been second down the first leg under floodlights in the Austrian resort of Schladming.
As a host of contenders failed to finish the second run, the Norwegian veteran held his nerve to lay down the second fastest descent to claim his 34th World Cup victory.
Reigning Olympic champion Clement Noel of France scorched to the fastest second leg to put himself in pole.
Next up, Belgium's Armand Marchant and Finland's Eduard Hallberg both skied out.
That left the top five.
First in the start hut was Brazilian Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who'd finished second in Tuesday's giant slalom behind Swiss racer Loic Meillard.
Braathen lost considerable time on the bottom half of the run, finishing almost a full second off Noel's time.
Then came Paco Rassat, but the Frenchman made a mistake high up the course, as did the following, in-form Meillard.
Kristoffersen, who won Olympic slalom bronze in 2014 and giant slalom silver in 2018, ramped up the pressure on McGrath with a consistent descent that saw him take the lead and ski on to his 101st podium.
McGrath pushed but had to be content with second, 0.34sec off Kristoffersen, Noel in third 0.54 off the Norwegian's winning time.
Meillard won Tuesday's giant slalom in Schladming ahead of Braathen and France's Alban Elezi Cannaferina.
B.Schneider--BlnAP
