Alpine skiing-Norway's McGrath wins men's slalom in Alta Badia
Dec 22 : Norway's Atle Lie McGrath denied Olympic champion Clement Noel a first World Cup victory of the season as he stormed to victory in the men's slalom at Alta Badia on Monday.
Frenchman Noel led after the first run down the iconic Gran Risa but lost time with a scrappy start to his second and could not better McGrath, who won with a combined time of 1:44.50. Noel was 0.30 seconds back with Swiss world champion Loic Meillard in third, 0.39 seconds slower.
It was the 18th time that Noel had led after the first leg of a World Cup slalom, but he has converted those into victories only seven times, and it proved another day of frustration for the 28-year-old, who was only 22nd-quickest on his second descent.
U.S.-born McGrath, who was second after the first run, produced a solid second run and accelerated through the closing gates to seal his fourth World Cup victory.
"I am so incredibly happy. This feels absolutely insane,” said McGrath, who will be one of the favourites at the 2026 Olympics.
Norwegian-born Brazilian Lucas Pinheiro Braathen was third-quickest in the second run at the Italian resort but just missed out on a podium place in fifth position, with Norway's Timon Haugan, the slalom World Cup leader, in fourth.
Pinheiro Braathen, who was second in Sunday's giant slalom won by Austria's Marco Schwarz, remains fourth in the slalom standings, while Noel jumps up to second behind Haugan after four races.
The next men’s World Cup race is also in Italy on Saturday, a super-G at Livigno where overall leader Marco Odermatt will try to make up for missing out on the podium in Sunday's Alta Badia giant slalom.
Switzerland's Odermatt leads the overall standings by a huge margin with 805 points to the 360 of Haugan.
(Writing by Martyn Herman in London; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
