Alpine Skiingmen's world cup
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Second on the Gran Risa, Atle was incredulous after the race. "The most beautiful thing? The embrace of my splendid companions". Dad Felix raced with Tomba, he always looks ahead. And even in slalom it is scary.
Sunday 20 December 2020 6 minutes reading time
Many have discovered it definitively today, a bit like in the case of its twin Lucas Braathen on the day of the triumph of “Pinheiro” in Soelden.
Atle Lie McGrath were only seven cents away to imitate the other Norwegian class of 2000, part of a "Generation Z" that is coming overbearing even in the white circus. Only Alexis Pinturault has entered between this fantastic 20-year-old and a colossal triumph on the Gran Risa, the temple of the giant, but today it was the boy born in Vermont, in Burlington, who made everyone fall in love. And without those two "chapels" both in the end of the opening heat (on the first hump of the cat) and in the second, at the end of the wall, perhaps we would be talking about another story.
Anyway, on the day when Kristoffersen continues her spiral of difficulty (and in Norway they didn't like at the end of the first heat a declaration from Henrik, "I skied like a woman"), while Braathen did very well in the first and Kilde in the second, the absolute protagonist of the Norway home is him, Felix's son Atle.
Felix McGrath, the most passionate will remember him: American slalom giant class 1963, 10th in the world slalom of Crans Montana 1987, 13th in Alberto Tomba's Olympic giant in Calgary ''88. And just behind the Bolognese champion, McGrath senior obtained the only podium in the World Cup in the same year, finishing the Are slalom in 2nd place. Married to former cross-country skier norge Selma Lie, Felix later became the Norwegian women's national team technician, well before Atle began to take his first steps in an extraordinary school such as the Baerums Ski Club which has grown, among others, also Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.
FROM THE EUROPEAN CUP TO THE ... WORLD
Last season, McGrath jr dramatically dominated the European Cup, flying from slalom to speed. It is enough to know that he won the general classification with the record gap on the second (the Austrian Haaser, arrived at 433 points), but until today he had no top ten in the World Cup (even if in Santa Caterina he was leveled up, with a 15th and an 11th place in the two giants of last week). This is because it was managed with the usual attention by the staff of the Norwegian national team, but the flashes in the 2019/2020 vintage had already been there, just think of the points brought home between giant and slalom in Alta Badia and Kitzbuehel, not just any two places, but above all that performance in the Adelboden slalom, when with the bib number 75 he will come out at the attack of the wall in the second heat, with a time that could have brought him very close to the podium.
That's why even on Monday, in the first seasonal slalom always on the Gran Risa, even starting with the 45 will be to keep an eye on. Meanwhile, today he enjoyed a fabulous day. "An early Christmas present, but I don't know what else to say so as not to be trivial - he smiled on NRK TV - It's wonderful how his teammates (Kilde and Braathen literally flew ... on him) have embraced, I hadn't even noticed the green light at the finish line.
Being part of this team is incredible ”.
Atle risked beating a record belonging to Alberto Tomba himself (who saw it all right from the finish area ...), the youngest winner on the Gran Risa at 21 ... minus 6 days. And that December 13, 1987 that saw Albertone give and give himself his third success in the World Cup, father Felix McGrath was in the race and finished eighth.
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