Zürcher Nachrichten - Meillard's double delight, Braathen bags first Brazilian podium

EUR -
AED 3.996124
AFN 76.91638
ALL 99.43422
AMD 426.532309
ANG 1.963588
AOA 992.312552
ARS 1161.999462
AUD 1.719686
AWG 1.958512
AZN 1.849362
BAM 1.95549
BBD 2.199851
BDT 132.378991
BGN 1.948312
BHD 0.410731
BIF 3228.22834
BMD 1.088062
BND 1.454142
BOB 7.528805
BRL 6.249396
BSD 1.089527
BTN 94.701971
BWP 14.843644
BYN 3.565534
BYR 21326.021555
BZD 2.188453
CAD 1.564361
CDF 3129.267194
CHF 0.961842
CLF 0.026416
CLP 1013.703689
CNY 7.875232
CNH 7.877283
COP 4494.382878
CRC 544.308616
CUC 1.088062
CUP 28.833652
CVE 110.247504
CZK 25.016715
DJF 194.009211
DKK 7.460746
DOP 68.508498
DZD 145.369258
EGP 55.125891
ERN 16.320935
ETB 143.101575
FJD 2.492721
FKP 0.841171
GBP 0.841214
GEL 3.019385
GGP 0.841171
GHS 16.802733
GIP 0.841171
GMD 77.786932
GNF 9435.791472
GTQ 8.38305
GYD 227.389153
HKD 8.456589
HNL 27.890973
HRK 7.533639
HTG 144.795971
HUF 399.100457
IDR 17791.715139
ILS 3.975687
IMP 0.841171
INR 94.605581
IQD 1425.695564
IRR 45701.751424
ISK 145.793296
JEP 0.841171
JMD 169.886572
JOD 0.771428
JPY 161.744836
KES 141.124674
KGS 95.15106
KHR 4353.376547
KMF 491.551026
KPW 979.266168
KRW 1579.044208
KWD 0.335993
KYD 0.892223
KZT 545.336381
LAK 23559.806091
LBP 98173.393644
LKR 322.402919
LRD 216.708148
LSL 19.768791
LTL 3.212765
LVL 0.658158
LYD 5.236836
MAD 10.542274
MDL 19.358031
MGA 5087.029598
MKD 61.344414
MMK 2284.667921
MNT 3779.035313
MOP 8.711617
MRU 43.488693
MUR 48.909135
MVR 16.821356
MWK 1886.041132
MXN 21.680975
MYR 4.838024
MZN 69.173009
NAD 19.768791
NGN 1683.898576
NIO 39.850363
NOK 11.576668
NPR 151.439884
NZD 1.890178
OMR 0.418904
PAB 1.088062
PEN 3.980498
PGK 4.411623
PHP 62.312512
PKR 304.762048
PLN 4.176456
PYG 8690.4657
QAR 3.960039
RON 4.976912
RSD 117.210648
RUB 93.034392
RWF 1528.593188
SAR 4.080406
SBD 9.2483
SCR 16.253636
SDG 651.807842
SEK 11.01927
SGD 1.451978
SHP 0.855046
SLE 24.840176
SLL 22816.124085
SOS 622.142866
SRD 39.490855
STD 22520.693322
SVC 9.521041
SYP 14146.828768
SZL 19.768791
THB 36.457472
TJS 11.851508
TMT 3.815123
TND 3.349073
TOP 2.615509
TRY 39.906954
TTD 7.408387
TWD 35.87815
TZS 2863.364539
UAH 45.314397
UGX 3988.376264
USD 1.088062
UYU 46.396515
UZS 14087.479461
VES 71.6192
VND 27751.086338
VUV 133.785892
WST 3.066698
XAF 655.401368
XAG 0.032196
XAU 0.000364
XCD 2.937808
XDR 0.816563
XOF 655.401368
XPF 119.331742
YER 268.490832
ZAR 19.800857
ZMK 9793.860703
ZMW 31.282417
ZWL 350.355624
  • JRI

    0.0335

    12.83

    +0.26%

  • BCC

    2.9700

    99.35

    +2.99%

  • RBGPF

    66.0200

    66.02

    +100%

  • RELX

    1.1200

    48.93

    +2.29%

  • SCS

    0.2000

    10.99

    +1.82%

  • NGG

    0.8900

    63.21

    +1.41%

  • RIO

    1.8400

    63.04

    +2.92%

  • GSK

    0.2600

    39.49

    +0.66%

  • CMSC

    0.0500

    23.22

    +0.22%

  • BCE

    -0.1990

    23.47

    -0.85%

  • VOD

    0.0500

    9.55

    +0.52%

  • AZN

    1.0900

    77.6

    +1.4%

  • RYCEF

    0.0500

    10.4

    +0.48%

  • BP

    1.0200

    33.39

    +3.05%

  • BTI

    -0.0200

    41.36

    -0.05%

  • CMSD

    0.1500

    23.35

    +0.64%

Meillard's double delight, Braathen bags first Brazilian podium
Meillard's double delight, Braathen bags first Brazilian podium / Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum - NTB/AFP

Meillard's double delight, Braathen bags first Brazilian podium

Switzerland's Loic Meillard won the men's World Cup slalom in Hafjell on Sunday to claim back-to-back victories in the Norwegian resort.

Text size:

Meillard, who won the giant slalom on Saturday, clocked a winning combined time of 1min 57.05sec after setting the fastest time in the first leg.

"It's a dream for a tech skiers to win both days, GS and slalom, and for it to happen this weekend, it's pretty amazing," Meillard said.

"My slalom form has been pretty good," he said. "It's been a great season in slalom and just try to keep it rolling, one more race to go."

Norway's Atle Lie McGrath finished second, at 0.21sec, while his former teammate Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, now racing for his mother's homeland of Brazil after falling out with the Norwegian ski federation, finished third (+0.47sec) to ensure a first-ever World Cup podium for the South American country.

"I thought I had it today," admitted Pinheiro Braathen, who spent his formative skiing days on the slopes of Hafjell. "I thought today was going to be the day where Brazil takes home a first World Cup victory.

"This is one of those days where you get to live the peak. There are many shitty days and many tough days underneath the success like today, but that's exactly why it tastes so sweet.

"It goes without saying the fact that I get to share that with my friend Atle, quite frankly, it's incredible. I'm beyond proud of what I've been able to accomplish."

Britain's Billy Major held the lead with the top nine from the first leg to come.

That proved short lived as first Tanguy Nef and then Timon Haugan went faster.

France's Olympic champion Clement Noel was fourth fastest in the first run, two ahead of Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen, who enjoyed a 77-point lead over Noel in the slalom standings coming into the race.

Kristoffersen slipped in behind Haugan before their teammate McGrath claimed provisional top spot.

Noel was next down, but could only finish 0.41sec slower than Kristoffersen.

That left the top three. Austrian Fabio Gstrein was 0.47sec off McGrath's pace.

A slight mistake in the bottom third saw Pinheiro Braathen squander his lead, but his performance was enough to guarantee a Brazilian podium finish with just Meillard to come.

The Swiss made no mistake, holding his nerve perfectly for a sixth World Cup win to cap a very successful weekend of racing.

Kristoffersen heads the slalom standings on 612 points, 47pts ahead of Meillard, with Noel in third, 86pts adrift.

There is one more slalom to be held this season, at next week's World Cup finals in Sun Valley, Idaho, on March 27.

With podium finishers bagging 100, 80 and 60 points respectively, the battle for the discipline's crystal globe remains up for grabs.

"It's still a big gap, so he (Kristoffersen) has to fail a little bit and I have to do something pretty special like today," Meillard said. "It's going to be a nice fight until the end."

W.Vogt--NZN