Today, Atle Lie McGrath claimed his first World Cup victory in Flachau. The Norwegian finished 0.29 seconds ahead of Clement Noel and 0.64 ahead of Swiss Daniel Yule.
Previous to Flachau the 21-year-old skier had achieved three World Cup podiums, a second place in the Slalom in Schladming in January, a third place in the Parallel in Lech-Zürs in November, and a second place in the Giant Slalom in Alta Badia in 2020.
“I am so happy with my performance today. Here and Schladming are the coolest evening races. This season is so crazy. Last year my knee was bad so I wasn't competitive. Winning here is so cool, I have no words”, said McGrath.
This season there have been eight different winners in nine races (Clément Noël, Sebastian Foss-Solevåg, Johannes Strolz, Lucas Braathen, Dave Ryding, Linus Strasser, Henrik Kristoffersen (2), and Atle Lie McGrath), and the 27 podium places have been divided by 16 different athletes (only multiple podiums by Kristoffer Jakobsen, Lucas Braathen, Manuel Feller, Linus Strasser, Henrik Kristoffersen, Dave Ryding, Clement Noel, and Atle Lie McGrath), matching a record set in 1985-1986.
Only in 1985-1986 (9) and 1999-2000 (9), there were more different men's slalom winners in the World Cup.
Henrik Kristoffersen is still leading the Slalom World Cup standings with 371 points, 48 points ahead of his teammate Lucas Braathen. Linus Strasser is third with 307 points, Manuel Feller fourth with 301, and Daniel Yule is fifth with 283.
After winning the Slalom title in 2015-2016 and 2019-2020, Kristoffersen could become the seventh man to win the slalom crystal globe more than twice.
The first run of the night slalom in Flachau was also the last in Manfred Mölgg's career. The South Tyrolean said goodbye after 329 races in the World Cup.
