Men's Alpine Ski World Cup Slalom in Levi
The Men's Alpine Ski World Cup Slalom returns to Finland on November 15 on the "Levi Black" slope.
Since the 2006–2007 winter season, Men have raced an Alpine Ski World Cup Slalom in Levi, Finland, 13 times. However, the race was absent from the Men’s World Cup calendar for four seasons between 2019 and 2024.
Austria has been the most successful nation in Levi so far, claiming five wins in the 13 Men’s races. France has 3 and Norway 2.
In 2025, Lucas Pinheiro Braathen won the slalom season opener in Levi, securing Brazil's first-ever Alpine Ski World Cup victory. Clément Noël finished 0.31 seconds behind. Eduard Hallberg finished in third place, 0.57 seconds behind, to reach the podium for the first time in his career.
Pinheiro can become the first skier to defend his title in Levi, as no skier has won here back-to-back.
Atle Lie McGrath, who won three Slalom races last winter season in Alta Badia, Wengen, and Kranjska Gora, and finished on the podium six times, secured the discipline's Alpine Ski World Cup Crystal Globe by finishing 64 points ahead of Clément Noël and 73 points ahead of his former teammate, Lucas Pinheiro Braathen.
The 26-year-old talented skier has claimed the Slalom World Cup title for Norway for the second consecutive year. In 2025, Henrik Kristoffersen won the Slalom Crystal Globe.
Atle Lie McGrath became the fourth Norwegian to win the Slalom Globe. His predecessors were Kjetil Andre Aamodt in 2000, Henrik Kristoffersen in 2016, 2020, 2022 and 2025, and Lucas Pinheiro Braathen in 2023 (when he was still representing Norway).
Norway won six of the eleven Slalom races last season. Atle Lie McGrath won three races, Timon Haugan secured two, and Henrik Kristoffersen claimed one. In addition, five races were won by other countries: France, with Paco Rassat winning two and Clément Noël winning one; Austria, with Manuel Feller taking another; and Brazil, with Lucas Pinheiro Braathen winning one as well.
Last season, Clément Noël secured his only Alpine Ski World Cup victory on the challenging "Canalone Miramonti" slope in Madonna di Campiglio. Olympic Champion Clément Noel is the most successful French World Cup Slalom skier, with 33 podium finishes to his name, including 15 wins.
The 29-year-old French skier has not yet won the Slalom Crystal Globe, but he has finished in second place four times, including last season. His runner-up finishes occurred in the years 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2026. In the 2019-2020 winter season, he came in second to Henrik Kristoffersen by a narrow margin of just 2 points, with scores of 552 to 550.
He claimed a podium spot in the last three Levi races. He won in 2024 and was the runner-up in 2019 and 2025.
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen made history as the first-ever Brazilian Alpine skier to win an Alpine Ski World Cup event last season. After taking a year off from the sport, he began representing Brazil in the 2024-2025 season. A five-time World Cup winner while competing for Norway, he was also the holder of the Slalom World Cup Crystal Globe title for the 2022-2023 season.
In 2025, Henrik Kristoffersen claimed his fourth Slalom Alpine Ski World Cup Crystal Globe, having previously won the title in 2016, 2020, and 2022. He joined Alberto Tomba on four Slalom Globes, behind only Ingemar Stenmark (8) and Marcel Hirscher (6).
Henrik Kristoffersen won one World Cup slalom race last season in Schladming.
Kristoffersen has an excellent track record in Levi, having won twice (in 2014–15 and 2019–20), finished second three times, and finished third once. He leads the field with six career podiums in Levi. In fact, he has only failed to reach the podium twice in his eight Levi starts.
By winning this year's Levi race, Henrik Kristoffersen could equal Marcel Hirscher's record of three wins in Levi (2013–2014, 2016–2017, and 2018–2019). Only Jean-Baptiste Grange, the French skier, has won in Levi multiple times, achieving this during the 2008–2009 and 2010–2011 seasons.
Henrik Kristoffersen, a two-time World Champion and 34-time Alpine Ski World Cup race winner (26 in the Slalom, eight in the Giant Slalom), is now part of the HEAD team.
Timon Haugan won the thrilling last Alpine Ski World Cup Slalom of the winter season in Hafjell and celebrated his sixth World Cup victory. The Norwegian finished 0.44 seconds ahead of Loic Meillard. Eduard Hallberg took third place, 1.03 seconds behind.
Last season, Loic Meillard achieved four podium finishes in Slalom, marking his 15th career Top-3 finish in the Slalom World Cup. He needs another podium finish to claim outright 5th place on the list of the most World Cup Slalom podiums among Swiss athletes, men or women, with 16. He is currently equal with Lise-Marie Morerod. Vreni Schneider leads the list with 47 career podiums. Meillard is the only Swiss male skier to have claimed a World Cup Slalom podium since the start of the 2024-2025 season.
The 30-year-old Swiss skier claimed the gold medal at the Slalom in Saalbach 2025, becoming the first Swiss skier to win a world championship Slalom event since Georges Schneider's victory in Aspen in 1950. Since then, the Swiss have only won three medals at world championships in Slalom: Jacques Lüthy's bronze in Lake Placid in 1980, Mike von Grünigen's bronze in Sierra Nevada in 1996, and Silvan Zurbriggen's silver in St. Moritz in 2003.
It has been 58 years (1968) since Dumeng Giovanoli became the only Swiss skier to win the Slalom Crystal Globe.
Although Loic Meillard has only two Slalom World Cup victories in his career, he ranks as the second all-time Swiss male racer for Top-10 finishes, with a total of 45. The most successful Swiss Slalom racer is Daniel Yule, who has achieved seven victories, 17 podium finishes, and 52 Top-10 finishes.
Meillard has achieved only one podium finish in his five Levi races, when he came third ln2024 behind Clément Noël and Henrik Kristoffersen.
Paco Rassat claimed his first career win in Gurgl last season, which was also his first ever World Cup podium in his fifth season on the circuit. With another win and a total of 3 podiums, Rassat finished the 2025-2026 season in 7th position in the Slalom standings.
Last season, Eduard Hallberg astonished everyone by finishing fifth in the first run with bib number 29 and used this excellent starting position to reach the podium for the first time in his career. The 23-year-old Finn's previous best result had been an eighth-place finish in the slalom in Gurgl a year ago. This was also the first time that Finland had achieved a podium finish in Levi. Before today, no Finnish skier had ever finished in the Top 10 in Levi. Kalle Palander achieved the best result in this home event, finishing 11th in the inaugural 2006–07 Levi race.
Hallberg ended up with 3 podiums for 9th place in the Slalom standings. He has won the FIS Longines Rising Ski Star award two seasons in a row.
Manuel Feller, the 2023-2024 Slalom Crystal Globe winner, will not be starting in Levi, still recovering from his back surgery.
Marco Schwarz has announced that he will no longer compete in World Cup Slalom races. Schwarz made 105 career slalom starts, scoring 3 wins, 14 podiums, and 42 top-10 results.
Linus Strasser has won four times in Slalom in the World Cup. Straßer has won as many World Cup Slalom races in 2024 (2) as in his previous years in the World Cup combined: 2021 in Zagreb, and 2022 in Schladming. He also won a City Event in Stockholm in 2017. He ranks fourth among German skiers in Slalom victories, behind Felix Neureuther (11), Armin Bittner (7), and Christian Neureuther (6).
Alexander Steen Olsen will race again in Levi on Sunday after a long layoff due to a knee injury. It will mark 599 days since his last race. Steen Olsen achieved his first and only Alpine Ski World Cup Slalom victory on February 2023 at the Palisades Tahoe race.
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