Who to Watch? Gurgl Men's Alpine Ski World Cup Slalom

Manuel Feller, Marco Schwarz, and Michael Matt. Gurgl Alpine Ski World Cup 2023. Picture: Ski Paradise

Gurgl, Austria, will host the second Slalom event of the season. The Men's Alpine Ski World Cup Slalom will be held at the Kirchenkar Gurgl racecourse in Hochgurgl on November 22.

Gurgl (AUT)  Slalom / Men

Saturday, 22.11.2025

• 10:30 CET 1st run

• 13:30 CET 2nd run

Competition in the Men's Slalom Alpine Ski World Cup is fierce, making it difficult to pick a clear favorite to win the race in Gurgl. Since the start of the 2021-2022 winter season, 16 skiers -Clément Noël (6), Henrik Kristoffersen (6), Manuell Feller (4), Timon Haugan (4), Lucas Braathen (4), Linus Strasser (3), Daniel Yule (3), Atle Lie McGrath (3), Loic Meillard (2), Marco Schwarz (1), Ramon Zenhäusern (2), Sebastian Foss-Solevåg, Johannes Strolz, Dave Ryding, Alexander Steen Olsen, and Albert Popov- have won at least one Alpine Ski World Cup event.

In the 2021-2022 winter season, there have been eight different winners in 10 Slalom races: Clément Noël (Val d'Isère), Sebastian Foss-Solevåg (Madonna di Campiglio), Johannes Strolz (Adelboden), Lucas Braathen (Wengen), Dave Ryding (Kitzbühel), Linus Strasser (Schladming), Henrik Kristoffersen (Garmisch Partenkirchen 1 and 2), and Atle Lie McGrath (Flachau, and Courchevel). Only in 1985-1986 (9) and 1999-2000 (9) were more Men's Slalom winners in the World Cup.

In the 2022-2023 winter season, 10 Slalom races were held in the Alpine Ski World Cup. Ramon Zenhäusern (Chamonix, and Soldeu), Lucas Braathen (Val d'Isère, and Adelboden), Henrik Kristoffersen (Garmisch Partenkirchen, and Wengen), and Daniel Yule (Madonna di Campiglio, and Kitzbühel) won two each. Clement Noel (Schladming), and Norwegian Alexander Steen Olsen (Palisades Tahoe) won the remaining two.

In the 2023-2024 winter season, 10 Slalom races were held in the Alpine Ski World Cup. Manuell Feller (Gurgl, Adelboden, Wengen, and Palisades Tahoe), Linus Strasser (Kitzbühel and Schladming), Marco Schwarz (Madonna di Campiglio), Daniel Yule (Chamonix), Loic Meillard (Aspen), and Timon Haugan (Saalbach) were the winners.

In the 2024-2025 winter season, 12 Slalom races were held in the Alpine Ski World Cup. Clement Noel (Levi, Gurgl, Adelboden, and Kitzbühel), Timon Haugan (Alta Badia, Schladming, and Sun Valley), Henrik Kristoffersen (Val d'Isere, and Kranjska Gora), Albert Popov (Madonna di Campiglio), Atle Lie McGrath (Wengen), and Loic Meillard (Hafjell) were the winners.

Only four skiers managed to finish in the Top 10 in both previous Gurgl slalom events: Dave Ryding (4th and 7th place), Timon Haugan (6th and 9th place), Henrik Kristoffersen (7th and 7th place), and Fabio Gstrein (8th and 9th place).

Lucas Pinheiro Braathen won the Slalom season opener in Levi, securing Brazil's first-ever Alpine Ski World Cup victory. Pinheiro Braathen, who made his Alpine Ski World Cup comeback last season after taking a year out, claimed five podium finishes last season. He has now secured the first victory for his mother's home country in the first Slalom of the 2025–26 winter season.

Pinheiro Braathen already had another three Slalom wins and a Slalom Globe in the 2022-2023 winter season when racing for Norway. Pinheiro Braathen finished sixth in both the Slalom and Overall rankings last season, which was also a best-ever result for Brazil.

Lucas Braathen was the third Norwegian to win the Men's Slalom Crystal Globe, after Henrik Kristoffersen (4, 2015-2016, 2019-2020, 2021-2022, and 2024-2025), and Kjetil André Aamodt (1, 1999-2000).Last season, he DNF the first run in Gurgl.

In the 2024-2025 winter season, Clément Noël became the most successful French Slalom racer, claiming his 14th win, overtaking Jean-Noël Augert, who had 13 wins. This also put him in the Top ten of the all-time Alpine Ski World Cup slalom victories list. He is now tied in eighth place with Austrians Mario Matt and Benjamin Raich.

With Noel’s 14 wins, France now has 72 men’s Slalom victories in total and is just two behind Italy (74) in the all-time rankings. Austria leads the way with 133 wins.

Reigning Olympic slalom champion Clément Noël finished in second place in the Slalom opener in Levi. He has finished on the World Cup podium 30 times, all in Slalom, and also claimed another podium in the team parallel in 2018. Noel has never won the Slalom Crystal Globe, having finished second three times (2019, 2020, and 2021).

Last season, just a week after his triumph in Levi, Finland, Clément Noël won the Slalom race in Gurgl. Second place went to Norwegian Atle Lie McGrath. Kristoffer Jakobsen of Sweden rounded off the top three.

Last season, 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).

The 31-year-old skier claimed the first Crystal Globe for Marcel Hirscher’s ski brand VAN DEER–Red Bull Sports in only its third winter season. The winning setup from VAN DEER–Red Bull Sports also brought Timon Haugan to the strongest season of his career to date, with victories in Alta Badia and the Nightrace in Schladming, in Sun Valley, and two second places in Wengen and Kranjska Gora (the first double victory for the VAN DEER-Red Bull Sports team).

Henrik Kristoffersen won two World Cup Slalom races last season in Val d'Isere and Kranjska Gora. In 12 World Cup Slalom races this season, Kristoffersen has one DNF and has been inside the top eight in the other eleven races, including five podiums. He has won two Slalom races in a season five previous times.

Kristoffersen needs to achieve four victories to surpass Aksel-Lund. Svindal to become the most successful Norwegian World Cup skier, male or female, in history. Kristoffersen currently has 33 Alpine Ski World Cup wins and is pursuing Svindal, who has 36.

He needs nine more podium finishes to surpass Marcel Hirscher and move into second place on the all-time World Cup Slalom podium list. Currently, Kristoffersen is tied for third with Alberto Tomba, both having 57 podium finishes.

Kristoffersen finished in seventh place in Gurgl in 2023 and sixth place in 2024.

Last winter, after opening the season with four podium places in his first five races, Loic Meillard won the penultimate World Cup Slalom in Hafjell to end second in the Slalom Globe standings, the only time in his career he has been on the Slalom Top-3. He finished third in the Overall Crystal Globe race. It has been 58 years (1968) since Dumeng Giovanoli became the only Swiss skier to win the Slalom Crystal Globe.

Loic Meillard 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 won bronze in Lake Placid in 1980, Mike von Grünigen won bronze in Sierra Nevada in 1996, and Silvan Zurbriggen won silver in St. Moritz in 2003.

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 40. The most successful Swiss Slalom racer is Daniel Yule, who has achieved seven victories, 17 podium finishes, and 52 Top-10 finishes.

Meillard finished in fifth place in Gurgl in 2024 and DNF the second run in 2023. After a disappointing performance in Levi, the Swiss slalom ski team will have the chance to bounce back this coming Saturday.

Timon Haugan finished in third position in the Slalom standings last season. The 28-year-old Norwegian skier had a career-best season in Slalom, achieving three victories at Alta Badia, Schladming, and the World Cup Finals in Sun Valley, along with five podium finishes. As a result, he finished third in the Slalom Globe standings for the second consecutive year.

Team Norway claimed six slalom wins in the 2024–25 winter season. France claimed four, all of which were won by Clément Noël. The remaining two were won by Loïc Meillard of Switzerland and Albert Popov of Bulgaria.

Last season, Norwegians also achieved a clean sweep of the podium in the Wengen Slalom, with Atle Lie McGrath taking first place, Timon Haugan second place, and Henrik Kristoffersen third place.

He finished in 5th place in Levi. Haugan finished in sixth place in Gurgl in 2023 and 9th place in 2024.

The Men's and Women's teams from Austria had a disappointing start to the World Cup season slalom in Levi. Michael Matt finished in ninth place. Fabio Gstrein, Manuel Feller, Marco Schwarz, and Johannes Strolz,  finished 10th, 11th, 19th, and 24th, respectively.

Team Austria has not won a Men’s Slalom race for 15 consecutive events. This is the second-longest winless streak for Austrian men this century. On 24 November 2023, Austria’s men ended a 17-race winning drought by taking the top three spots in the Gurgl race. Manuel Feller won, with Marco Schwarz and Michael Matt close behind. The last time the Austrians achieved a triple podium in a slalom event before Gurgl was on 14 January 2001 in Wengen, when Benjamin Raich claimed victory ahead of his fellow Austrians Rainer Schönfelder and Mario Matt.

33-year-old skiers Manuel Feller and Linus Strasser both finished in ninth place in last season’s slalom ranking. After winning four times in his Globe-winning season, he had just two podium finishes: second place in Schladming and third in Kranjska Gora.

Aged 31, Feller became the oldest men's slalom Crystal Globe winner since Reinfried Herbst (2009-2010) and Ivica Kostelic (2010-2011) won at the same age. It’s Feller’s biggest career achievement after winning the silver medal in Slalom at the 2017 World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Before 2024, the closest he came to winning a World Cup Crystal Globe was in 2021-2022 when he finished runner-up in the Slalom standings 90 points behind Henrik Kristoffersen.

Austria has won the Slalom World Cup Crystal Globe 17 times. The last time Austria won the Men’s Slalom World Cup standings before Manuel Feller was in the 2020–2021 winter season, when Marco Schwarz clinched the World Cup Slalom title. Feller etches his name in the record book alongside other Slalom title victors from his country: Marcel Hirscher (6), Benjamin Raich (2), Thomas Sykora (2), Reinfried Herbst (1), Rainer Schoenfelder (1), Thomas Stangassinger (1), and Alfred Matt (1).

Linus Straßer became the first to achieve the Kitzbühel and Schladming double. Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen was the last one to do so in 2016. Before Strasser, the previous German skier to record back-to-back Slalom World Cup wins was Armin Bittner, in January 1990. Only two German skiers, Armin Bittner (4 in 1989-1990) and Felix Neureuther (3 in 2013-2014), have won more than two Men's World Cup Slalom events in a single season.

He 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 is fourth-most among German skiers in Slalom wins behind Felix Neureuther (11), Armin Bittner (7), and Christian Neureuther (6).

In 2024, Kristoffer Jakobsen finished in second place in Gurgl and achieved his fourth World Cup Podium. This is also his best career result, having finished second for the third time.

Last season, Albert Popov won his first Alpine Ski World Cup slalom race in Madonna di Campiglio, 45 years after compatriot Petar Popangelov claimed Bulgaria's only other World Cup victory in the men's slalom in Lenggries, Germany.

Eduard Hallberg astonished everyone in Levi 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 22-year-old Finn's previous best result had been an eighth-place finish in the Slalom in Gurgl a year ago. In 2024, in his first Alpine World Cup Slalom appearance in Levi, he became the first Finn since Santteri Paloniemi to score slalom World Cup points, matching his 24th place in the 2012 Levi World Cup.

England's Laurie Taylor, with bib number 32, takes a stunning fourth place in Levi, just four hundredths of a second off the podium. Teammates Dave Ryding and Billy Major finished in 7th and 27th positions, respectively.

The 39-year-old skier Dave Ryding will be hoping to win or finish on the podium again, which would extend his record as the oldest Slalom skier to achieve both feats. Ryding became Great Britain’s first-ever World Cup winner when he won in Kitzbühel in 2022.

Last season, Atle Lie McGrath finished in third place in Gurgl. In Levi, he didn't finish the second run after setting the 6th-best time in the first run. He won last season’s Slalom in Wengen, his third career World Cup win. McGrath's other career wins both came in March 2022 – in the Slaloms in Flachau and Courchevel.

Steven Amiez finished in eighth place in Levi. With two fourth-place finishes in Gurgl and Madonna di Campiglio last season, the Amiez family came tantalisingly close to adding another podium finish to their 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.

Last season, Swiss skier Tanguy Nef achieved his best-ever World Cup result in Wengen, finishing fourth. He finished in the Top-10 in seven Slalom races. In his previous starts in Gurgl, he finished 20th in 2023 and 22nd in 2024.

Team USA is currently experiencing its longest-ever periods without a podium finish (142 events) or a victory (208 events) in men's slalom. Nolan Kasper was the last skier to reach a slalom podium, in March 2011 in Kranjska Gora, and Bode Miller was the last skier to win, in December 2004 in Sestriere.