Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany) (AFP) - Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen comfortably won the World Cup men's slalom at Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Wednesday to move into third spot in the overall standings.
Kristoffersen clocked the fastest first leg down the Gudiberg piste in 52.84 seconds and followed that up with a more conservative 55.53sec on the second for a winning combined time of 1min 48.37sec.
The Norwegian finished 1.22sec ahead of Austria's Manuel Feller, with France's Clement Noel taking third (+1.46sec).
Kristoffersen's victory saw him jump three places into top spot of the slalom standings, on 220 points, 15pts ahead of Feller, with Yule third (186).
"After three second places in a row, it is good to win," said Kristoffersen.
"I just tried to do the things that make me ski faster.I tried to focus on the technique, on the tactical stuff in the course and that’s it.
"I really used my bib number for the first leg," he said, going down first on a piste that was very quickly ripped up in spring-like conditions.
"I was pretty calm at the start actually.I thought the second run, the conditions were rough but not so bad.I have skied in worse.There were some gates that were really nice to ski and I took pretty good advantage of that, skiing smart and not risking too much.”
Feller said it was "definitely one of the toughest races this season.I fought until the finish line".
Third-placed Noel, the Olympic champion, admitted that Kristoffersen was "extremely strong in these conditions".
"I knew I could be fast in these conditions but mistakes are really, really difficult to avoid in these conditions because you have to push but you also have to be really solid," the Frenchman said.
Norway's Lucas Braathen, who came into the event as the form skier, and teammate and reigning slalom world champion Sebastian Foss-Solevaag both failed to finish.
