Alpine Skiing World Cup: AJ Ginnis loses victory after disqualification, Alexander Steen Olsen wins dramatic slalom

AJ Ginnis lost his maiden Alpine Skiing World Cup win in a dramatic slalom in Palisades Tahoe, with Alexander Steen Olsen instead taking his first victory.

Ginnis went fastest in the second run, but appeared to straddle one of the gates. However, on the official timings, he was not disqualified.

After a wait of 30 minutes, it was announced that Ginnis was disqualified and the victory went to Steen Olsen, with Timon Haugan taking second and joint-third between Albert Popov and Clement Noel.

Lucas Braathen kept his lead in the slalom World Cup standings, despite finishing seventh.

“It’s so unbelievable,” said Steen Olsen. “I just don’t know what to say, it’s so crazy.

“The visibility was a challenge but the conditions were OK. I just had to believe in myself and go for it.”

A very close first run saw Noel lead Daniel Yule by just 0.07 seconds with Linus Strasser in third at 0.11 seconds behind.

The top 10 were split by half a second with Britain’s Dave Ryding 1.13 seconds off the pace but down in joint-18th.

Kritoffer Jakobsen had a disappointing opening run in 28th so went early when the top 30 were reversed for the second leg.

Snowy conditions meant the start intervals were shortened and it was Jakobsen who set the early pace of a 1:48.27.

Popov took advantage of his Bulgarian coach setting the course to go 0.56 seconds quicker than the Swede.

Slalom World Cup leader Braathen looked very tired and couldn’t beat Popov’s time, but limited the damage with a seventh place finish.

By the halfway point of the second leg, Popov was still in the lead as the snow continued to fall heavily.

Steen Olsen finally took the lead away by 0.24 seconds and all the big names initially struggled to beat it.

Alexis Pinturault, Ramon Zenhaeusern, Manuel Feller and world champion Henrik Kristoffersen were all slower.

Kristoffersen was ahead up until the final part of the course, then made a big mistake which cost him his speed so dropped behind Olsen and Popov.

Greece’s Ginnis charged down the hill and went fastest by 0.01 seconds, but straddled so was disqualified to the disappointment of the Greek athlete with four skiers to go.

Timon Haugan was next but just missed top spot, although it was his best result of the season before Strasser, Yule and Noel all struggled with the conditions. Strasser finished in 10th, Yule in 24th and Noel salvaged a podium.

Britain’s Ryding was far from his best in 16th and Billy Major added more World Cup points to his name in 18th.

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