Henrik Kristoffersen (28), Rasmus Windingstad (29) and Lucas Braathen (22) were close to something big, but a couple of fast namesakes from the Alps ruined the Norwegian dream day.
Six days after the WC, at the same sea as Ben CartwrightBen CartwrightThe main character in the TV series Bonanza (1959-1972), played by Lorne Greene. The series still airs on TV 2 every weekend. and the gang wreaked havoc in the TV hit “Bonanza” in the 60s, the Norwegian technical drivers did it razor sharp on Saturday morning local time.
After the first round, four Norwegians were among the top eight. Both Alexander Steen Olsen (8), Henrik Kristoffersen (7), Lucas Braathen (4) and Rasmus Windingstad (3) were on target and could aim for top positions with less than a second to leader Marco Odermatt.
It was Kristoffersen’s coach Joerg Roten who was allowed to be sheriff and hit the trailhit the trailIt is common for coaches from different teams to be allowed to set up the gates before the 1st and 2nd half of a slalom race. in the 2nd half. It bore fruit.
Kristoffersen threw himself around the gates like a lasso, and put rock-hard pressure on Odermatt and the rest of the Norwegians.
– It’s a very good game. I think this can last all the way, commented Viaplay’s expert Kjetil André Aamodt.
… but it didn’t last long. Marco Schwarz delivered a dream round and crushed Kristoffersen by 73 hundredths.
Lucas Braathen was the first challenger: He made a big mistake in the middle of the course and was nowhere near threatening the Austrian. He finished in 6th place.
Rasmus Windingstad had a giant lap earlier in the day, and managed to match the speed to some extent in the final lap. However, he was unable to beat Schwarz’s time, but secured his first World Cup podium since Kranjska Gora in 2019.
In the WC giant slalom a little over a week ago, Marco Odermatt was superior, and namesake Schwarz had to settle for the bronze. On Saturday, the Austrian got a little revenge with his huge 2nd round – but it was smoother than it looked midway when Odermatt made an uncharacteristic miss. However, he found the speed again, and amazingly almost managed to get the entire lead to Schwarz on the last lap. It was three hundredths too much.
It was, however, enough to push Windingstad down to 3rd place, and Kristoffersen off the podium.
Thus, there was still no Norwegian bonanza, a revolver shot from the fictional “Pondarosa” farm.
However, there is little that reminds us of the Cartwright family’s cowboy life in Lake Tahoe during the day. California is hit by a storm of historical propositions this week, and Palisades Tahoe (formerly known as Squaw Valley) at the top of the Sierra Nevada mountain range is naturally also affected.
Kristoffersen & co. escaped the worst weather on Saturday.
Alexander Steen Olsen was, as mentioned, in 8th place before the final round, but crashed halfway through.
– He is a bit young and inexperienced. He has to take it here on the inexperienced account, commented Kjetil Andre Aamodt on Viaplay.
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde made the spectators open their eyes when he opened the 2nd round terrifically, but a big mistake meant that he ended up far down the charts in 24th place. Leif Kristian Nestvold-Haugen was number 20.
