After the Night Slalom in Madonna di Campiglio, the Alpine Ski World Cup Tour heads to Adelboden, Switzerland, for the sixth race of the Men’s Slalom season.
The renowned Swiss ski resort is the second stop of the "Month of Slalom Classics" in the Men’s Alpine Ski World Cup calendar, featuring races in Madonna di Campiglio, Adelboden, Wengen, Kitzbühel, and Schladming.
Adelboden's World Cup Hill "Chuenisbärgli" is one of the classics of the Alpine Ski World Cup.
Due to a change in the program caused by the weather, the Slalom will be the first event on Saturday.
January 11th Slalom / Men 10:30 CET 1st run 13:30 CET 2nd run
Men's Slalom is still searching for a true dominant figure after the era of Marcel Hirscher. Competition in the Alpine Ski World Cup is fierce. Since the start of the 2021-2022 winter season, 16 skiers -Henrik Kristoffersen (5), Manuell Feller (4), Clément Noël (4), Linus Strasser (3), Daniel Yule (3), Lucas Braathen (3), Timon Haugan (2), Atle Lie McGrath (2), Ramon Zenhäusern (2), Sebastian Foss-Solevåg, Johannes Strolz, Dave Ryding, Alexander Steen Olsen, Marco Schwarz, Loic Meillard, and Albert Popov- have won at least one Alpine Ski World Cup event.
Loic Meillard (325 points) is currently leading the Slalom standings ahead of Henrik Kristoffersen (315) and Clement Noel (240) in second and third respectively.
Clement Noel won the Slalom Season Opener in Levi. The Reigning Olympic Slalom Champion returned in Levi to the Top of the podium thanks to two sensational runs. After setting the best time in the first run, he maintained his lead with an impressive second run, only challenged by Henrik Kristoffersen's flawless second run. Loic Meillard completed the podium in third place.
A week after his victory in Levi, Finland, Clement Noel once again set the pace in the first run of the race in Gurgl, earning his second win of the season in the Slalom. The Frenchman successfully defended his lead against challenges from Swedish skier Kristoffer Jakobsen. In the end, he managed to hold off Jakobsen, finishing with a margin of +0.44 seconds, and Atle Lie McGrath, who finished +0.45 seconds behind.
In December, Henrik Kristoffersen achieved a remarkable victory, leading a Norwegian one-two finish on the podium at the Slalom World Cup in Val d'Isere. He beat his teammate Atle Lie McGrath by 0.52 seconds. Loic Meillard finished in third place 0.89 seconds behind.
The 30-year-old skier from Norway celebrated his 24th Slalom and his 31st Alpine Ski World Cup victory. It was his first win in Slalom in almost two years. On January 15, 2023, Kristoffersen celebrated his last Slalom World Cup victory in Wengen. He ranks fourth in the all-time Men's list for the most World Cup Slalom wins, behind Ingemar Stenmark (40), Alberto Tomba (35), and Marcel Hirscher (32).
Timon Haugan won the last Slalom of 2024 in Alta Badia, his second triumph in the Alpine Ski World Cup. Loic Meillard finished in second place, 1.13 seconds behind Haugan. Atle Lie McGrath rounded up the podium in third place 1.26 seconds off the pace.
Haugan gave Norway its 200th victory in the Alpine Ski World Cup. The Norwegian team set the pace again in the Slalom in Alta Badia. It's the Norwegians' second Slalom victory this season, after Henrik Kristoffersen's victory in Val d'Isere.
The first race of the Alpine Ski World Cup in 2025 brought another first-time winner: Albert Popov. The 27-year-old Bulgarian won the Classic Slalom race on the demanding "Canalone Miramonti" in Madonna di Campiglio ahead of Loic Meillard and Samuel Kolega. It was the second victory in the Alpine Ski World Cup for Bulgary. 45 years ago, on January 8, 1980, Petar Popangelov won the Slalom in Lenggries, Germany.
Thanks to his fourth podium finish in the fifth slalom of the season in Madonna di Campiglio, "Mr. Consistency" Loic Meillard will be wearing the red bib as leader in the Slalom standings in Adelboden. The only time Meillard did not finish on the podium this season was in Gurgl, where he finished fifth.
Meillard has finished on the podium in the last three World Cup Slalom races, the first time he has achieved such a streak in his career.
Only two Swiss have been able to experience what it feels like to be the Slalom winner on the Chuenisbärgli: Marc Berthod in 2007, and Daniel Yule in 2020.
The 28-year-old Swiss skier has achieved 10 podium finishes in slalom, but he only secured one victory, which was in Aspen in March 2024.
Meillard's best result in Adelboden was fourth place two years ago, missing the podium by just one-hundredth of a second.
The all-rounder is in third place in the Overall World Cup standings.
Henrik Kristoffersen is Meillard’s closest challenger in the Slalom standings. He finished fifth in Madonna di Campiglio.
Kristoffersen, with 54 podiums, including 24 wins in this discipline, is in fourth position in the ranking of most podiums in Slalom. Only three other men have won more podium finishes in World Cup Slalom events than Kristoffersen: Ingemar Stenmark (81), Marcel Hirscher (65), and Alberto Tomba (57).
He won the Slalom gold medal at the 2023 Alpine World Ski Championships in Courchevel-Méribel. The 30-year-old Norwegian previously won bronze medals in Slalom in Cortina d'Ampezzo 2021 and in Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
Henrik Kristoffersen has won the Slalom Crystal Globe three times (2015-2016, 2019-2020, and 2021-2022). He aims to become the fourth male alpine skier to win the Slalom Title more than three times, after Ingemar Stenmark (8), Marcel Hirscher (6), and Alberto Tomba (4).
In his 12 Slalom World Cup races in Adelboden Kristoffersen claimed two wins (2016 and 2017) and four additional podium places, one second place in 2020, and three third places in 2014, 2018, and 2019.
Reigning Olympic Slalom Champion Clement Noël won the first two Alpine Ski World Cup Slalom races of the season in Levi and Gurgl. Noël has 12 World Cup Slalom victories and 26 podiums to his name. Another victory would move Nöel to second place, tied with Noël Augert (13 wins) on the list of France’s most successful World Cup Slalom skiers. Perrine Pelen holds the record with 15 wins.
Noel was one of the 22 skiers out of the 73 who were at the start of the first run in Madonna di Campiglio who did not finish (the DNF rate in the second run was also high with only 21 skiers crossing the finish line).
Julien Lizeroux is the only Frenchman to win in Adelboden back in 2010. Noël finished second in Adelboden in 2019. Noel has failed to finish five out of seven Slalom races in Adelboden.
Atle Lie McGrath claimed in Alta Badia his fourth podium of the season, the third one in Slalom. It's his 13th podium in the Alpine Ski World Cup.
McGrath was on his way to becoming the third Norwegian to claim a Slalom victory in the World Cup this season before straddling in the second run in Madonna di Campiglio.
He has won two World Cup Slalom races in Flachau and Courchevel in March 2022.
The 24-year-old skier placed second in the Slalom event in Adelboden in both 2023 and 2024.
Samuel Kolega is having the best season of his career and currently sits in fifth place in the Slalom standings. After a strong start to the season that included top-10 finishes—9th in Levi, 16th in Gurgl, 6th in Val d’Isère, and 5th in Alta Badia—the Croatian skier achieved a significant milestone this week by earning his first-ever World Cup podium finish, coming in 3rd place in Madonna di Campiglio.
The 25-year-old athlete hopes to follow in the footsteps of Croatian skiing legend Ivica Kostelic, the only Croatian to have won (2011) and secured a podium finish in Slalom in Adelboden (2002, 2010, 2012).
Timon Haugan won the last Slalom of 2024 in Alta Badia, his second triumph in the Alpine Ski World Cup. With his victory, he confirmed he is one of the most consistent Slalom racers in the World Cup. Except for Kitzbuehel (DNF2), Levi (he finished in 14th position), and Madonna di Campiglio (DNF1), Haugan has finished in the Top-10 in every Slalom World Cup race since Palisades Tahoe in 2023. Last season he finished in third position in the Slalom standings.
The 26-year-old French skier Steven Amiez, finished in fourth position in Madonna di Campiglio and narrowly missed, for a second time this season, the chance to add another podium finish to the Amiez family legacy. His father, Sébastien Amiez, had an impressive career, achieving ten podium finishes and one win in Slalom World Cup events between 1995 and 2001.
Defending Slalom Crystal Globe champion Manuel Feller won four of the 10 World Cup Slaloms last season, finishing inside the top five in the other six races. Feller started the Slalom season with two DNFs in Levi and Gurgl. Then he finished joint fourth with Lucas Pinheiro Braathen in the Slalom in Val d’Isère and seventh in Alta Badia. He did not finish the second run in Madonna di Campiglio.
Last season Manuel Feller won a thrilling Slalom race in Adelboden beating Atle Lie McGrath by a mere 0.02 seconds. Feller's teammate Dominik Raschner finished in third position +0.23 seconds behind.
Fellow former Austrian Adelboden winners Johannes Strolz and Marco Schwarz are also yet to find their best in the 2024-2025 winter season. Strolz has a top finish of 11th in Madonna di Campiglio, with Schwarz yet to finish one of his three Slalom races since returning to action in December following a long-term injury.
Austria is by far the most successful nation in Adelboden to date, claiming victory in 11 of the 22 races in the "Chuenisbärgli".
For the first time since 1991-1992, the Austrian team failed to finish on the podium in the first five Slalom races.
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen can become the first Brazilian winner of a World Cup event in the Alpine Ski World Cup.
In the Giant Slalom at Beaver Creek on December 8, 2024, he made history by finishing second becoming the first Brazilian athlete to reach a World Cup podium in Alpine Skiing.
The complete list of countries that have claimed a World Cup victory in alpine skiing includes: Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia, Finland, France, Germany (including West Germany), Great Britain, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia (including Yugoslavia) the Soviet Union, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.
The last four countries to win its first-ever World Cup event in Alpine Skiing achieved this maiden win in the Slalom: Kalle Palander for Finland (Kitzbühel, January 2003), Šárka Strachová for Czech Republic (Aspen, January 2008), Veronika Velez-Zuzulová for Slovakia (Semmering, December 2012) and Dave Ryding for Great Britain (Kitzbühel, January 2022).
Pinheiro Braathen won the last time he raced Slalom in Adelboden, in 2023.
In 2024, Linus Strasser won the Alpine Ski World Cup Slalom races in Kitzbühel and Schladming. The 32-year-old German skier became the first to achieve the Kitzbühel and Schladming double. He has won four times in Slalom in the World Cup.
Strasser finished in 7th position in the Slalom Opener held in Levi. He did not qualify for the second run in Gurgl, and did not finish (DNF) in Val d'Isere and Alta Badia. A sixth-place finish in the last Slalom in Madonna Di Campiglio was his best result this season.
He placed second in 2021 and third in both 2022 and 2023 in Adelboden.
Last season, Dave Ryding became the oldest man to claim a Slalom World Cup podium finish at the age of 37 years and 17 days old. when finished third in Madonna di Campiglio.
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