Manuel Feller wins another thrilling Slalom race in Wengen beating Atle Lie McGrath by a mere 0.10 seconds. Henrik Kristoffersen finished in third place +0.21 seconds behind.
Manuel Feller secured the fourth Austrian victory in the fourth Slalom race of the season in Wengen thanks to an aggressive second run to move from third to first place. It's his fifth World Cup victory and his third one of the season after winning in Gurgl and Adelboden.
Feller, Marco Schwarz, Michael Matt, and Dominik Raschner claimed seven out of a possible twelve podium places in the first four Men's World Cup Slalom events this season.
The 31-year-old Austrian skier became the first man to win three World Cup Slalom races in a single season since Clément Noël and Daniel Yule both won three events in 2019-2020.
Before today's Feller win, the last male skier representing Austria to win the Wengen slalom in the World Cup was Marcel Hirscher in 2018.
"It's his (McGrath's) fault that I am winning because I see how hard he is going in, especially the steep parts, so I thought after the first run I need to go a little bit more all-in if I want to catch these guys.
Especially in Adelboden and also today, I probably need to thank him for pushing me, because if he hadn't pushed that hard in the first run, I would think I would have gone a little bit easier. I think it's a good battle for the crow", Feller said.
"It's incredible. Skiing is so beautiful when it's going well and everything fits together. I'm definitely in the shape of my life. A bit of luck is always necessary in the Slalom, I almost failed in the middle section. Of course, I want to show what I can do at home now. Everyone expects that from me, and that doesn't make it any easier. But maybe I can do it in one of the two home races", he added.
After three wins and a fifth place, Feller leads now with 345 points in the Slalom World Cup standings and is 153 points ahead of McGrath.
Like in Adelboden Atle Lie McGrath finished in second place behind Feller. The Norwegian missed out on the Slalom victory by 0.02 and 0.10 seconds respectively.
"It went pretty well and it was a test for me. I needed a lot of energy to defend the lead. That was not easy. But it's cool to be second too. It was a gift from me to Manuel, he can give it back to me in Austria", McGrath said.
"It's a good fight and he's a good friend of mine, and I'm in his Norwegian fan club as well", he added.
Henrik Kristoffersen achieved today his first Slalom podium of the season. The 29-year-old Norwegian is building his way to the Top again step by step.
"I feel like I’m only skiing at 60 percent of the maximum. I can't really be free and ski how I want to because the confidence is not 100 percent there. But it's becoming better and better. I've worked a lot on the material, and every run brings more confidence, and then we'll see in Kitzbühel", Kristoffersen said.