Paco Rassat Claims His First-ever Alpine Ski World Cup Victory in Gurgl

Gurgl 2025 Alpine Ski World Cup Slalom Podium. Picture: HEAD Ski

Today, an incredible 10,500 ski fans flocked to the Alpine Ski World Cup in Gürgl to enjoy an exhilarating race. Paco Rassat and Armand Marchant, who had repeatedly shown glimpses of their potential in the past, surprisingly took the top spots on the podium. This is a clear indication of the enormous depth of talent in the slalom discipline in the Alpine Ski World Cup. In addition to Finn Eduard Hallberg in Levi, three newcomers have already reached the podium for the first time this season.

The competition in the Men's Slalom Alpine Ski World Cup is fierce, and today was clear proof of that.

Since the start of the 2021-2022 winter season, 17 skiers have won at least one World Cup Slalom event.

After the first run, everything was set for a close fight in the second run, with only 1.47 seconds separating Tommaso Sala in 30th place from the leader in the first run, Atle Lie McGrath. The last time the gap was this small was in January 2022 during the slalom event in Adelboden, where just 1.37 seconds separated first-run leader Fabio Gstrein and Marc Rochat in 30th place.

Paco Rassat climbed 14 places after setting the fastest time in the second Slalom run in Gurgl, securing his first Alpine Ski World Cup victory and podium finish. His best result before today was sixth place in Levi last week. Belgium's Armand Marchant finished second, just 0.07 seconds behind Rassat, also claiming his first World Cup podium finish. Atle Lie McGrath, who was in the lead after the first run, rounded off the podium just 0.09 seconds behind Rassat.

27-year-old Rassat, who also climbed from 13th place to achieve his best result in the World Cup in Levi, 6th, showed his true colors today.

"A dream has come true, I'm truly overjoyed. I couldn't have imagined it. The Olympic Winter Games are, of course, the big goal; I have to do well in the World Cup to qualify. The first run was really tight. Everything was possible; a good result and a bad result. I really tried to push as hard as possible to just look for the top spots. I tried to ski as fast as possible, and when I saw the green light at the finish line, it was just amazing," Rassat said.

Armand Marchant's first-ever World Cup podium finish is also his second top-five result, following his fifth-place finish in Zagreb in 2020. This was also the first World Cup podium in Belgian history.

"I'm speechless. I come from such a small country, with no mountains. My parents did a lot for me, and I'm just super happy to dedicate this podium to them. It's an amazing day. I'm just so happy. So happy. It's been really tough. I had a lot of injuries, and I always fought back to be able to live this dream, this kind of day. You always work for that, and at the end you can say it was really worth it," Marchant said.

"The World Cup is incredibly tight right now; anyone can win. But I have great confidence in myself; anything is possible," he added.

Atle Lie McGrath claimed his second podium finish of the season today after finishing third in the season opener in Sölden. This is also his second consecutive third-place finish in Gurgl marking his 17th Alpine Ski World Cup podium.

"It's incredible the level in Slalom now. You see the podium or the top five in Levi and the podium here today, it shows Slalom is a very difficult event, and so many people can ski fast," McGrath said.

"Of course, it's disappointing to reach the finish line and not see a green light. It's even more disappointing to see that I'm in third place and not second, and even more disappointing to realise that I was only nine hundredths of a second behind. But I'm very happy to be on the podium today. It was a tough race. Mentally, it was challenging for me after Levi (DNF2), so I'm happy to bounce back with a podium finish and ski at the level I know I can," he added.