Kitzbuehel Winner Linus Strasser Leads World Cup Night Slalom In Austria After 1st Run

SCHLADMING, Austria: German skier Linus Strasser led a men’s World Cup night race after the first run Wednesday, three days after he won the slalom of the classic Hahnenkamm event in Kitzbuehel.

One of the first four starters who had their runs before rain set in, Strasser was 0.10 seconds faster than Timon Haugan of Norway.

Olympic champion and last year’s winner Clement Noel of France was 0.36 behind in third, while the rest of the field had to make up more than six-tenths of a second in the final run later Wednesday.

“It was a very, very good first run. A lot of calmness in my skiing,” Strasser told Austrian TV.

Strasser two years ago won the annual night race, held at the venue of the 2013 world championships, for his third career victory but didn’t win another event until last weekend.

“There are still a few guys very close. How much of an advantage is seven-tenths? One small mistake in a turn and it’s gone,” Strasser said.

World champion Henrik Kristoffersen was the last racer to finish within a second of Strasser’s lead, as the Norwegian finished 0.98 seconds behind.

Manuel Feller trailed Strasser by 1.04. The Austrian leads the discipline standings after winning three of the previous five slaloms this season.

Mild temperatures and the rain made conditions on the Planai course vastly different from the rock-solid and icy surface at Tuesday’s giant slalom. That race was won by Swiss star Marco Odermatt, who does not compete in slaloms.

Tuesday’s race was briefly interrupted after 30 starters when climate activists entered the course behind the finish line and sprinkled powder on the snow in a protest identical to the one at a slalom in Gurgl in November last year.

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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – Associated Press)