Henrik Kristoffersen wins his first race of Alpine skiing World Cup season in tricky Garmisch-Partenkirchen conditions

Henrik Kristoffersen ended his wait for a World Cup victory this season after a dominant performance in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Warm weather and soft snow suited Kristoffersen while many of his rivals, including Britain’s Dave Ryding who finished down in 20th place, struggled.

“It feels very good after three second places in a row,” said Kristoffersen. “I was pretty calm at the start.

“In the second run, the conditions were tough but not so bad. I have skied in worse.

“There were some gates that were really nice to ski and I took advantage of that. I skied smart, not risking too much but in general, a really good day.

“I tried to focus on the technique and the tactical stuff in the course. I can’t change anything else other than my skiing.”

The Norwegian took 0.71 of an advantage over the rest of the field into his second run, with Linus Strasser in second and Clement Noel third at 0.93 seconds behind.

Italy’s Stefano Gross, who was 26th in the first run, put down a blistering charge early on which saw him hold the lead for the majority of the second leg.

As the course severely rutted up with cuts and bumps, the skiers were forced to take longer and rounder turns which cost them time all the way down the hill.

Tommaso Sala went close at 0.04 seconds behind to make it an Italian 1-2, but with eight athletes to go Gross was still in the lead, such were the deteriorating conditions.

Sebastian Foss-Selevagg had a 2.10 second advantage but straddled. Timon Haugan and Loic Meillard failed to beat Gross’ time, before Daniel Yule took the lead by 0.08 seconds.

Manuel Feller immediately went faster than Yule by 0.49 and Noel slotted in between to go second.

Attention turned to home hero Strasser but he lost control when he was over a second faster at the mid-way point of his run, much to the despair of the crowd.

Kristoffersen had a few nervy moments but avoided any big errors to beat Feller by 1.22 seconds and took his 22nd career slalom victory.

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