In an Exciting race in Kitzbühel, German Linus Strasser wins his third career World Cup Slalom. He finished ahead of Kristoffer Jakobsen (+0.14) and Daniel Yule (+0.20). It's his eigth podium in Slalom in the Alpine Ski World Cup and his first one this season. The last German winner in the Ganslernhang was Felix Neureuther in January 24, 2014. Strasser also became the first German to record a podium finish in the Kitzbühel World Cup Slalom since Fritz Dopfer finished third in 2016.
"It's unbelievable, the story comes full circle. I have so much connection to Kitzbühel and Austria. Without people's commitment and fanaticism, in a positive sense, I would never have become a skier. It's a dream come true. The mission was always to get a “Gans”, to be on the podium, winning is a different story. It happened today, so I am unbelievably happy. I don’t know what to say", Strasser said.
Kristoffer Jakobsen achieved today his third World Cup Slalom podium. This season he failed to finish the first run of the three last Slalom races. He finished in 11th position in the Slalom opener in Gurgl.
"It’s unbelievable, I was not expecting a lot from today and with this hill, one of the favorites, but it changes fast, the slalom turns quick. I’ve had such tough times before here and you start to question if you should continue skiing. You need to have some results for skiing to be fun, and when you’re struggling too much you lose the fun and the confidence, so this means everything to me", Jakobsen said.
Two time Kitzbühel's winner Daniel Yule rounded up the podium. It's his first season podium and the first one in the discipline for the Swiss Team. The last time he finished on the Top-3 was on February 2, 2023 in Chamonix.
"As a ski racer, when you come to the finish you want to see green, but I’m really happy with a podium in Kitzbühel. To add another ‘Gams’ to the collection is amazing. It’s really icy, as always in Kitzbühel, but they do an amazing job on the slope. With Fischer we have a set-up that works really well in these conditions. I showed up for the inspection on the first run, I saw how icy how it was and I had a big smile on my face", Yule said.
Manuel Feller finished in 4th position and consolidates himself as leader of the Slalom World Cup classification with 395 points.
Many skiers had problems to manage the icy Ganslernhang. In the first run, only 37 of a total of 70 starters made it to the finish line. The prominent list of failures included Atle Lie McGrath second in the Slalom standings before today's race. Linus Strasser is now in second place behind Feller (208 points).
It's the first Slalom race this season without an Austrian skier on the podium. Austria have not celebrated a victory in the Hahnenkamm Slalom since Marcel Hirscher won in 2017.