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≡ WORLD ALPINE CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡
Switzerland won medals in all five men’s events and eight of 11 events overall to lead the medal table for the second time in the last three FIS World Alpine Championships, this time at Saalbach (AUT) in an event marked by first-time champions and medal winners.
While the Swiss won the first three men’s events, they had not won a women’s medal until Saturday’s Slalom and then went 1-2. Camille Rast, the 2017 World Junior Champion in the Slalom, won her first two World Cup golds this season and skied brilliantly to record the top time in the first run. She had a big, 0.58-second lead on Katharina Liensberger (AUT), and 0.72 on American star Mikaela Shiffrin.
On the second run, Paula Moltzan of the U.S., fresh off her bronze in the Giant Slalom, zoomed into the lead as the fifth-to-last skier to go, recording a strong run to finish at 1:59.34. Wendy Holdener, a two-time World Champion in the Combined, was next and was even faster – the fastest second run of all – to take the lead (1:58.46), with Shiffrin next. Her run was not as smooth and she was left in third place at 1:59.37.
Then came Liensnerger, but with the 13th-best second run, she ended up at 1:59.32, behind Holdener. Rast was last and was terrific, turning in the no. 4 second run and taking the gold from Holdener at 1:58.00, her first Worlds medal. Moltzan and Shiffrin had to settle for fourth and fifth; A.J. Hurt of the U.S. finished 19th at 2:03.70.
Austria’s Raphael Haaser, 27, followed up his men’s Super-G silver with a win in Friday’s Giant Slalom – pretty good for someone who has never won a World Cup race – starting with the fifth-fastest first run. He had the fourth-fastest second run and that was good enough for the lead at 2:39.71. But the top three in the first run all had second runs ranked 20th or lower and Haaser took the gold.
Swiss Thomas Tumler, with four career World Cup medals, was sixth after the first run and was eighth in the second run, but that was good enough to hold onto the silver. Swiss veteran Loic Meillard was no. 2 after the first run and despite logging the 22nd-fastest second run, won the bronze at 2:40.22. Swiss seasonal World Cup leader Marco Odermatt ended up fourth at 2:40.29.
River Radamus was the top American finisher, in 17th (2:41.36); Patrick Kennedy was 32nd (2:45.99).
Sunday’s finale was the men’s Slalom, with France’s Beijing 2022 Olympic champion Clement Noel – who has four wins already in World Cup races this season – settling into the lead on the first run at 59.23, ahead of Meillard (59.42) and Norway’s Atle Lie McGrath (59.87).
Britain’s Dave Ryding, 13th on the first run, had the lead until Austria’s Manuel Feller – sixth on the first run – took over at 1:54.81 with what ended up as the third-fastest second run.
German Linus Strasser was next and he took the lead at 1:54.54, and held it as Norway’s Timon Haugen finished at 1:54.91, behind Feller. Now it was McGrath’s turn and he was strong, pushing into the lead at 1:54.28, with only Meillard and Noel to go.
Meillard’s second run ranked only 10th, but given his excellent first run, he zoomed into the lead himself at 1:54.02, leaving only Noel to go. He looked like the winner, but straddled a gate near the end of the run and did not finish, leaving Meillard as World Champion.
It’s Meillard’s sixth Worlds medal (2-1-3), adding to his men’s Team Combined gold and Giant Slalom bronze in Saalbach. McGrath won his first Worlds medal in second, and Strasser got his first individual Worlds medal (also a Team bronze in 2021). Jett Seymour was the only American, in 21st (1:57.29).
The Swiss men won four of five men’s events and nine of 15 men’s medals and scored in eight of the 11 events at the Worlds. Host Austria won seven medals (2-3-2), with the U.S. third with four (2-0-2). Looking ahead to the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, the only conclusion is that anything can happen, and probably will.
Back to business. The Worlds was only an interlude during the World Cup season; the men now go to Crans-Montana (SUI) for races and the women to Sestriere (ITA).
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