ADELBODEN, Switzerland – Henrik Kristoffersen won another duel with Marcel Hirscher in a World Cup slalom on Sunday to extend his lead in the standings.
The Norwegian racer edged Austrian Hirscher by .06 seconds as they combined to finish 1-2 for the fourth consecutive World Cup slalom this season.
“If we keep switching places the whole season then I will be pretty happy,” said Kristoffersen, who has beaten Hirscher three times with just one loss.
Aleksander Khoroshilov of Russia, the first-run leader, was third, trailing .60 behind Kristoffersen’s two-run time of 1 minute, 51.34 seconds.
The same three racers filled the podium places on Wednesday at Santa Caterina, Italy, where Hirscher got his only slalom win this season.
Still, Hirscher extended his lead in the overall standings as he seeks a fifth consecutive title.
Fog shrouded the course and hid second-run racers cresting the hill into the steep final section from the view of fans in the finish area.
Kristoffersen came into the picture slicing through the gates faster than anyone to make up time he lost on the darker and foggy top section.
“From the last pitch down, I skied really good in the second run,” said the 21-year-old racer. His seventh career World Cup win was his sixth in slalom as he replaces Felix Neureuther of Germany as Hirscher’s biggest rival in the technical discipline.
Racing started in the morning despite fog and falling snow on a course judged unsafe for Saturday’s giant slalom, which was canceled.
Organizers trucked in artificial snow in recent days and had to treat it with chemicals to produce a solid race surface in temperatures above freezing.
With 80 World Cup points earned Sunday, Hirscher now leads by 165 overall from Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, who does not race slalom.
Kristoffersen, who earned 100 points, is third ahead of Kjetil Jansrud, another teammate who skips slalom.
In slalom, Kristoffersen leads by 40 from Hirscher, the three-time defending discipline champion. Neureuther was runner-up each time.
When the teenaged Kristoffersen got his first World Cup win – in January 2014 in the classic night slalom at Schladming, Austria – he had Hirscher and Neureuther beside him on the podium.
The looming Hirscher-Kristoffersen rivalry was confirmed weeks later at the Sochi Olympics when they filled the medal places behind champion Mario Matt of Austria.
On Sunday, world champion Jean-Baptiste Grange of France and American Ted Ligety both failed to finish their morning runs.
David Chodounsky of the United States, who was 10th fastest in the morning, placed 20th, trailing Kristoffersen by 2.76.
Michael Ankeny of the U.S. moved up from 30th to 21st, 2.80 back, and earned World Cup points for the first time.
The 24-year-old Ankeny grew up skiing on the same Buck Hill slope in Minnesota as Lindsey Vonn. He scored a debut 10 points on the same day she got a 73rd career World Cup victory in a super-G at Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria.
