(Reuters) -Manuel Feller led Austria to a sweep of the World Cup slalom podium for the first time since 2001 on Saturday after setting a blistering pace on his opening run in front of a delighted home crowd at Gurgl.
The 31-year-old Feller was nearly a second faster than the field on his first run before winning the race 0.23 ahead of Marco Schwarz. Michael Matt completed the Austrian hat trick in the first men’s World Cup slalom ever held at Gurgl.
Feller’s win in the season-opening World Cup skiing slalom was the first for an Austrian in 17 slalom races.
He was a career-best second in the overall World Cup slalom standings in 2022.
With five skiers left to go, the race was interrupted by climate protesters who had to be dragged away from the finish area. Norwegian skier Henrik Kristoffersen had to be restrained as he lunged at the activists yelling.
“It’s so disrespectful,” Kristoffersen told Norway’s national broadcaster NRK. “Say what you want, vote and try to change things from there. But don’t ruin it for people. It’s completely disgusting.”
TV cameras picked up Kristoffersen and Croatian Filip Zubcic throwing snowballs at the demonstrators.
“(Zubcic) hit one protester in the head. He was happy with that,” Kristoffersen told NRK.
The race was missing last season’s slalom crystal globe winner Lucas Braathen of Norway, who recently shocked the skiing world by announcing his retirement at age 23.
The women’s downhill race in Zermatt-Cervinia in northwest Italy was called off earlier on Saturday due to strong winds.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Additional reporting by Tommy Lund; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
