Worth the Wait for Foss-Solevaag

It took 86 World Cup starts, but in the end, he finally got his first victory. Norwegian Sebastian Foss-Solevaag dominated the field in today’s Audi FIS World Cup slalom in Flachau (AUT) to claim his first career win.

Foss-Solevaag made his World Cup debut in Levi in 2012 and until today had four podiums to his credit the victory always managing to elude the 29 year-old. But today the stars aligned perfectly for the veteran as he earned a clear 0.76 victory over Austrian Marco Schwarz.

Schwarz is on a roll of his own, having earned a podium in each of the last three races, including today’s second place finish. Alexis Pinturault brought home his first top-three finish in the slalom of the season 0.95 off the winning pace.

Foss-Solevaag skied nearly flawlessly in both runs, turning in the fastest times both times down the hill. After the first run, he sat atop the standings with a trio of Austrians right on his heels. But only Schwarz managed to capitalize on his strong first run position – the others, Manuel Feller and Fabio Gstrein had no chance to make the top ten in the second run.

Austria’s loss was Switzerland’s gain as Loic Meillard and Luca Aerni finished fourth and sixth, respectively. Although the season is only half over, the two nations already find themselves going head-to-head for the Nations Cup, with the Swiss holding a 604-point lead currently.

After an extremely busy two weeks, the slalom racers can now catch their breath until their next outing on January 26th in Schladming. Until then the speed teams will steal the spotlight with Kitzbühel confirmed earlier in the day to host the famed Streif races next weekend.