Manuel Feller cements slalom lead with dramatic victory in Wengen, edging out Atle Lie McGrath for second week running

BySportsbeat

Published 14/01/2024 at 15:09 GMT

Manuel Feller has won three of the four World Cup men's slalom races this season after victory in Wengen - more races than in all of his previous campaigns (2). He narrowly overcame Atle Lie McGrath for a second consecutive week after beating the Norwegian by a mere two-hundredths of a second in Adelboden last week. Henrik Kristoffersen completed the podium and was 0.21 seconds further adrift.

Highlights: Feller records third win of season at Wengen

Manuel Feller took a dramatic victory men's slalom victory in Wengen to cement his lead at the top of the discipline standings.

The Austrian produced a superb second run to usurp Clement Noel at the summit after a number of skiers struggled with the conditions in Switzerland.

Feller was then made to nervously wait as Norwegian pair Atle Lie McGrath and Henrik Kristoffersen both came close to knocking him off top spot, but both were unable to match Feller's consistency across both runs.

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McGrath led by 0.36 seconds from compatriot Kristoffersen after a sparkling first run of 53.67 seconds, with Feller 0.52 seconds back, but both were off the pace second time around as Feller came closest to matching Noel's fastest second-run time of 55.82 seconds.

Feller spoke about how McGrath's performances are pushing him onto new heights.

"It's his [McGrath's] fault that I am winning because I see how hard he is going in, especially the steep parts, so I thought after the first run I need to go a little bit more all-in if I want to catch these guys," said Feller in quotes published by fis-ski.com.

"Especially in Adelboden and also today, I probably need to thank him for pushing me, because if he wouldn't have pushed that hard in the first run, I would think I can go a little bit easier.

"I think it's a good battle for the crowd."

Victory in Wengen was Feller's second slalom win in a row and his third out of four World Cup races so far this season.

It means the Austrian has a dominant lead atop the discipline standings, 153 points ahead of McGrath who is narrowly ahead of Marco Schwarz, the only other skier to win a men's slalom World Cup race this season.

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