The two Norwegians, very close in life, scored a magnificent double this Sunday in Adelboden.
Almost twins and inseparable on the White Circus, Lucas Braathen and Atle Lie McGrath offered Norway a double on Sunday in the slalom in Adelboden (Switzerland), marked by spectacular ascents in changing conditions. Best time in the first round, the flamboyant 22-year-old Norwegian only achieved the 16th fastest time in the second, on soft and dug snow, but maintains a 0.71 lead over his two-day junior, and 0 ’92 on German Linus Strasser. Braathen regains control of the classification of the specialty, after four races, with 9 points ahead of the Austrian Manuel Feller, 7th Sunday, and 30 over his compatriot Henrik Kristoffersen, eliminated in the first round after a big mistake which left him took several seconds.
Early winner of the Sölden giant at just 20 years old, hampered by a serious left knee injury during the Adelboden giant at the start of 2021, the blond colossus with Brazilian origins and black-painted nails confirms his brilliant form with a fifth Cup success in the world, the third this season. His friend McGrath missed out on a third victory in slalom after Flachau and Courchevel/Méribel last March, but won his first podium this winter, reinforcing the impressive collective strength of the Norwegians. Because if theNorway” have long shone in speed thanks to the “Attacking Vikings», a tradition perpetuated by the best descender in the world Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, they are now several of the best technicians.
On the French side, Alexis Pinturault, 17th in the first round 2”35 from Braathen, managed a good comeback to take 10th place in the final 1”51 from the Norwegian, before a delicate Super G-slalom sequence next week in Wengen. “I had a better run than the first, even if I didn’t have good visibility, and it’s been tenths that escape“, he underlined, choosing to retain his “better feelings» only at the beginning of the day.
Another failure for Christmas
Olympic champion Clément Noël experienced further disappointment when he came out on the final wall of the first run, despite an excellent start to the course and a better lap time than Braathen in the third intermediate. “I could understand if I took all the risks but now I feel like I’m doing things right and it’s not working… It’s complicated“, admitted the 24-year-old skier, in complete disarray. Eliminated six times in his last eight races in the World Cup, the Vosgien based in Val d’Isère has “hard to explain» this chess cascade while he «thinks he had (his) best run of the winter». «My ski is still in place, lately in training I feel pretty good, pretty stable, comfortable“, he noted a week before the slalom in Wengen, where he offered two of his nine World Cup successes (2019, 2020).
In the general classification of the World Cup, the Swiss Marco Odermatt (1,046 points), who offered himself a second victory in a row on Saturday in the giant Adelboden but does not compete in the slaloms, still prances far ahead of a trio of Norwegians: Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (646), also absent on Sunday, then Kristoffersen (565) and Braathen (465).