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01/11 08:09 CST Paco Rassat races to 2nd World Cup slalom win in breakout
season ahead of Olympics
Paco Rassat races to 2nd World Cup slalom win in breakout season ahead of
Olympics
ADELBODEN, Switzerland (AP) --- The big surprise of the World Cup slalom season
scored his second win Sunday adding to his fast-rising reputation before the
Winter Olympics.
Paco Rassat raced to the fastest time in the second run to rise from fourth
place, and push two Norwegians down the podium steps after they had been
fastest in the morning run.
United States-born Atle Lie McGrath was edged out by 0.18 seconds and first-run
leader Henrik Kristoffersen dropped to third, trailing 0.20 behind Rassat.
The 27-year-old Frenchman had a career-best result of ninth in World Cup races
before this Olympic season started.
Rassat now has two wins, a third place and two sixth places this season and
shapes as a medal contender for the Milano Cortina Olympics. The men's slalom
is on Feb. 16 at Bormio.
"To win on this crazy hill at Adelboden, It's something really unbelievable,"
Rassat told Swiss broadcaster RTS, describing his season as "a magnificent
surprise."
Rassat also took the lead in the seasonlong World Cup slalom standings, ahead
of his France teammate Clment Nol, the defending Olympic champion. Nol tied
for eighth Sunday.
McGrath was runner-up in the Adelboden slalom for the third time in four years.
"It's kind of crazy," said McGrath, whose father Felix skied for the U.S. at
the 1988 Calgary Olympics. "I'm of course super happy, it's such a challenging
slope and mentally it's one of the toughest places to perform because of this
amazing crowd."
Another packed finish-area crowd at Adelboden observed a minute's silence
before racing for the victims of the fatal fire in a bar in nearby
Crans-Montana on New Year's Day. Crans-Montana hosts men's and women's World
Cup races in three weeks' time.
The World Cup overall standings leader, four-time title holder Marco Odermatt,
does not ski slalom and his huge lead was cut a little by Lucas Pinheiro
Braathen, who placed fourth. Pinheiro Braathen was second to Odermatt in the
classic giant slalom Saturday.
The men's World Cup circuit stays in central Switzerland for the storied
Lauberhorn meeting at Wengen, for a super-G on Friday, the classic downhill
Saturday and a slalom Sunday.
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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
