Hirscher wins the tight night slalom at Madonna di Campiglio

The pattern "1. Kristoffersen, 2, Hirscher" that was reccurent in the two past seasons is broken, as Marcel Hirscher takes the win on the famous "Canalone Miramonti" in Madonna di Campiglio. The podium of the exciting night race is completed by Switzerland's Luca Aerni +0.04 behind and Henrik Kristoffersen +0.05 off the pace.

It was a very tight race tonight in Madonna di Campiglio. Already in the first run, the 30 qualified racers were all within +1.67 seconds, and after the second run, the podium holds within +0.05. Daniel Yule from Switzerland was only +0.07 off the pace today, and ends in fourth place for the second time this season.

In this race of small margins, Henrik Kristoffersen was able to move up from his fifth place in the first run and claim his sixth podium of the season. The Norwegian focused a lot on giant slalom lately and didn’t dedicate as much time to slalom as usual, which explains why he didn’t win yet this season. However, being constantly in second place still ensured him the red leader bib of the discipline.

Luca Aerni from Switzerland became an Alpine Combined World Champion last year, but never reached a podium on the World Cup circuit so far. Today, two solid and flawless runs allowed him to earn the first slalom podium for Switzerland since January 2010.

In the lead after the first run, Marcel Hirscher didn’t have a big margin on his contenders and had a pretty wild run down the Canalone Miramonti. But in the end, the +0.04 hundredths were on his side and the Austrian, very relieved when he saw his time written in green, could celebrate his 49th World Cup win.

The Audi FIS Ski World Cup Tour now takes a very short Christmas break, before heading to Bormio for the traditional downhill on 28th of December and an Alpine Combined on the 29th.