Giant slalom in Sölden: Norwegian triple victory in the Hirscher comeback

The first World Cup weekend makes you want more and was a perfect one Advertising for skiing which his critics and complainers often talk badly about or even say dead.

The giant slalom in Sölden in front of 17,200 fans (new visitor record) was a spectacle with many main actors. Above all, Alexander Steen Olsen, who led a Norwegian triple victory.

The 23-year-old technician fell to his Norwegian team-mates after his debut victory in the giant slalom Henrik Kristoffersen and Atle-Lie McGrath around the neck – it was a test of strength for the ski team from Scandinavia.

A man who was a teammate until a year ago was celebrating with the trio. Lucas Pinheiro Braathen He raced to fourth place in his first World Cup race as a Brazilian and was one of the stars of the giant slalom show in Sölden.

Braathen celebrated his best running time in the second round, with which he almost catapulted himself onto the podium from 19th place, with one Samba dance performance.

Another star who took center stage on Sunday was, of course, Marcel Hirscher. In his first race after 2,051 days, the 35-year-old neo-Dutchman made it to the second round and finished in 23rd place.

“Thank you for letting me be here,” said Hirscher, who admitted he didn’t sleep very well before his performance. “I didn’t think it would be so emotional.”

Die AustriaAfter the failures of hopefuls Stefan Brennsteiner and Manuel Feller, we were unable to intervene in the fight for the podium and only brought two people into the second round.

But they did quite impressively: Raphael Haaser achieved his best World Cup result in giant slalom with seventh place, Patrick Feurstein showed eighth place.