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Austrian Johannes Strolz, crowned Olympic combined champion last week, leads the Beijing Games slalom standings after the first run.
Strolz is ahead of two Norwegians: Henrik Kristoffersen is at 02/100 and world champion Sebastian Foss-Solevaag at 06/100.
The gaps are tiny and the suspense is complete at the end of the first run: 12 skiers are held in less than 90/100ths, reflecting the crazy density of the world slalom.
No less than 36 skiers either did not start or finish the race, including Canadian Trevor Philp. The other representative of the maple leaf Erik Read is provisionally 22nd with 1.98 seconds behind.
Frenchman Clément Noël is 6th at 38/100.
“I got off to a pretty good start, with good intentions and good fluidity. Afterwards I’m a little disappointed with my sleeve, because on the bottom, I hardened up a bit and I was much too cautious,” he said.
Since the start of winter, the six World Cup events have crowned six different winners, leaving no margin of safety: even the best must take all the risks to claim a podium.
The route, designed by the Austrian coach Marko Pfeifer, has also knocked out two of the three leaders in the classification of the discipline, the Norwegian Lucas Braathen and the Austrian Manuel Feller.
The second round of this race, the last men’s individual event of the Olympic Games in alpine skiing, will take place from 0:45 a.m. with only 52 participants.
