Sensational in Gurgl: the slalom goes to France as Paco Rassat tops a historic Marchant. Vinatzer collapses in the 2nd run

An astonishing finale, with the podium contained in just 9 hundredths and the dramatic shake-up that saw Paco Rassat claim, in the electric atmosphere of Gurgl, both his first podium and his first World Cup victory, after earning a career-best 6th place in Levi.

The 27-year-old Frenchman—celebrating his birthday just last week—has been steadily improving since last season and skis with textbook precision. In this second slalom of the Olympic winter he charged from 14th place (85 hundredths off the lead after starting bib 21 in the morning run) all the way to triumph, ahead of another hugely deserving talent, Armand Marchant. Despite a major mistake mid-course in run 2, the 1997-born Belgian, whose career has been plagued by injuries, delivered Belgium’s first-ever men’s alpine podium (his only other top-five was 5th in Zagreb 2020), finishing just seven hundredths behind Rassat.

At +0.09, the great disappointment was Atle Lie McGrath (17th World Cup podium, but only 3 wins, all in slalom), who led after the first run but was far too conservative on the steep pitch of the decisive heat. And there were many other big names left with frustration and regrets: Eduard Hallberg, fresh from his first podium in Levi, did everything right until the final flat, where he arrived 14 hundredths ahead of Rassat—who had already pulled back more than eight tenths on the Finn (super-fast in the final section of run 1)—before skiing out sensationally when a breakthrough victory was still within reach, which would have made him heir to Kalle Palander’s throne.

The final 4th and 5th places sting also for Timon Haugan (second top-five after Levi, but he wants much more), just 29 hundredths behind the winner, and Tanguy Nef, who was hunting his first podium but skied “tight” in the decisive run and fell from 2nd place (like Hallberg he had a 68-hundredth advantage over Rassat) down to +0.65, narrowly ahead of the fury of Raschner, best Austrian as he rocketed from 25th to 6th. The evergreen Muffat-Jeandet took 7th at +0.73, followed by Strasser (+0.76), a solid Popov at +0.88, and Lucas Pinheiro Braathen closing the top ten, only 10th at +0.93 from Rassat.

With the Brazilian begins another chapter of disappointed stars, since just one hundredth behind Yule (11th), at +0.99, finished ex-aequo Henrik Kristoffersen and Clément Noel (along with Rueland, who struggled in run 2 but can still smile at his home race). World champion Meillard, already only 20th halfway through, skied out at the top of the wall in what is proving a very tough start to the season. Amiez placed 15th, Gstrein plummeted from 8th to 16th, Schwarz was only 21st and, speaking of the Wunderteam, Feller got everything wrong and tumbled from 6th to 27th, just behind Tommaso Sala.

For the Italian analysis we start with the Lombard skier, Sala, who returns to the points a year after his injury but, despite starting first in run 2, couldn’t ignite the spark needed to bring home more than 26th place, 1.94 behind Rassat.

The issue for coach Pini’s team is that its spearhead, Alex Vinatzer—10th at +0.66 from McGrath after run 1—collapsed completely, delivering a very disappointing second run that left him only 19th (+1.17; the gap is relatively small, but this was today’s race), unable to escape the confidence drought that has been evident in slalom for quite some time, Kitzbühel miracle aside.

Paco Rassat also takes over the red bib heading toward his home race in Val d’Isère, but before that the men’s White Circus will head to Colorado, with a super-G and a giant scheduled Thursday and Friday in Copper Mountain, while Sunday in Gurgl will feature the women’s slalom show.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL RACE RESULTS

MEN’S SLALOM – GURGL

1st Paco Rassat in 1’44”55

2nd Armand Marchant +0.07

3rd Atle Lie McGrath +0.09

4th Timon Haugan +0.29

5th Tanguy Nef +0.65

6th Dominik Raschner +0.70

7th Victor Muffat-Jeandet +0.73

8th Linus Strasser +0.76

9th Albert Popov +0.88

10th Lucas Pinheiro Braathen +0.93

19th Alex Vinatzer +1.17

26th Tommaso Sala +1.94

DNQ Simon Maurberger

DNQ Tobias Kastlunger

DNQ Matteo Canins