Only Norwegians faster

Slalom night race in Schladming from 17.45 LIVE

Manuel Feller (left) and Fabio Gstrein (right) are on the podium in Schladming.(Bild: Mario Urbantschitsch)

Manuel Feller and Fabio Gstrein have broken the ÖSV men's ski team's podium drought in the night slalom in Schladming. The Tyroleans carved to second (+0.20 sec.) and third (+0.67) behind Norwegian winner Timon Haugan in front of 22,500 fans on Wednesday. Feller celebrated an emotional return to the World Cup podium in the ninth race of the season, while Gstrein celebrated his podium premiere in the floodlit classic on the Planai.

Half-time leader Linus Straßer (GER) slipped back to fourth place in the decider (+0.77). Feller improved by two places, Gstrein by four. "It's about time in some respects, but as we've said so often: You can't force it. We often skied very, very fast for certain sections, but not for two runs," explained Feller on ORF after his third Schladming podium.

Apart from the duo, no ÖSV skier scored points. Marco Schwarz finished 17th in the half-time decision, and Johannes Strolz, who was racing for his World Championship ticket, also slipped out in tenth place in the first run. Strolz' direct competition for the fourth ÖSV starting place in Saalbach-Hinterglemm had already made a mistake in the first run. Dominik Raschner fell at the penultimate gate after moderate intermediate times, Adrian Pertl after just a few seconds of skiing. For Michael Matt, it was no longer possible after a snowfall after the first intermediate time.

Here is the result:

Feller: "It hasn't been enough so far"
 Austria's slalom men have yet to finish on the podium in the eight slaloms so far this season and have only managed two top five finishes. "It hasn't been enough so far. Thank God it worked today, although the course was simply very, very tough, so we can be all the more proud that we managed it," said Feller.

(Bild: GEPA)

Gstrein had also missed out on a podium place several times before. In the 65th WC slalom it worked out: "I didn't think it would work out today with the two mistakes. I attacked, that was just right today." Schwarz didn't want to blame himself after the failed attack. "I think when you're 17th, there's only one motto and that's full throttle. I tried, but unfortunately it didn't work out."

Fabio Gstrein(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Two contrasting course settings
Straßer had taken 0.36 seconds off Haugan as the first runner-up in the tight first run. Loic Meillard (+0.36), Feller (+0.46) and Atle Lie McGrath (+0.49) were also in with a chance. Four-time season winner Clement Noel was already seven tenths behind in sixth place, just ahead of Gstrein. Feller managed to limit his deficit with the fastest finish and, according to his own statement, to achieve a "good starting position".

DSV coach Stefan Kogler then surprised everyone with an unrhythmic, extremely twisting run and thus completely contrary course setting. The two best times were ultimately seven seconds apart and five of the top 30 were eliminated. In addition to Schwarz and Strolz, this also included Noel. Gstrein did extremely well, but missed out on an even clearer lead due to a mistake on the inside. Feller replaced him and cheered exuberantly.

ÖSV victory ban continues
However, Haugan held his nerve from the top trio. He had recently dropped out as the leader in Kitzbühel. "The day after Kitzbühel was really tough. It was hard to accept that it had happened. It helped a lot that we had another race yesterday," said Haugan, who prevented the red-white-red ski ecstasy. The ÖSV men are now without a win in 31 races this season. There is still one last chance to eradicate this gap before the World Championships: a downhill is scheduled for February 2nd in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Straßer missed out on the Schladming triple after winning in 2022 and 2024 and struggled with the course: "I wasn't able to make the most of my superiority over the others in the second run." Henrik Kristoffersen took the slalom World Cup lead (467) from Noel (464) with eighth place.