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On Sunday, Sebastian Foss Solevåg and Henrik Kristoffersen can end a losing streak.
Tom Stiansen took the last gold of the Norwegian World Cup in slalom in 1997. Photo: Call Tørnstrøm / NTB
– There are many coincidences in a championship. That Henrik (Kristoffersen) did not win World Cup gold in slalom is almost a bit strange. It has been very good for a long time. But at the World Cup, there is often room for surprises, as I really do, says Tom Stiansen to Aftenposten.
He became slalom world champion at Sestriere in 1997. Since then, no Norwegian has won World Cup gold in this discipline. Medal captures have also been low. Lasse Kjus took silver during the World Championships in Vail in 1999. However, in the last ten championships, the slalom podium has been chemically free of the Norwegian flag.
Stiansen believes that it is difficult to pin down a single reason for this.
– There are many people trying and only one race, he says.
On Saturday, Katharina Liensberger became the slalom world champion. It was his first victory in the discipline. On Friday, everyone thought Alexis Pinturault would take the World Cup gold in giant slalom. He drove in the final round. There are examples of how much can happen in a championship, Stiansen believes.
– Now we have the odds on our side. We haven’t really had two since my time that are so strong and have such good results to show before the World Cup, says former world slalom champion from Norway.
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The two are Sebastian Foss Solevåg and Henrik Kristoffersen.
Foss Solevåg has been stable like few others this season. In mid-January, he achieved his first World Cup victory when he reached the top at Flachau. Before the World Cup, he is number three in the slalom cup.
Kristoffersen has not been as stable as before, but at the end of January he achieved the first World Cup victory of the season. He then won the French slalom race in Chamonix.
– Henrik has been a bit variable, while Solevåg is stability itself, says Stiansen.
In January, Sebastian Foss Solevåg took home his first World Cup winner. Photo: Leonhard Foeger / Reuters
He believes that the two Norwegians are fairly even before Sunday’s race.
– Henrik has shown good form heading into the World Cup, especially in Chamonix. It thrives very well when it’s not so icy and slippery. It wasn’t Saturday, so unless the organizers water before the race or come out before the second lap, he’s going strong, says the former climber.
– Solevåg, on the other hand, has been very stable on icy surfaces. If the course is like Saturday, with a tight and fast pace, then it is important that Sebastián does not stay too low with his ass. You have to get up and press your skis at the entrance of the curve, says Stiansen.
He thinks the chances of a Norwegian medal on Sunday are good.
– The two of them are up there along with five or six other gold candidates.
Henrik Kristoffersen won the slalom race in Chamonix at the end of January. Photo: Jeff Pachoud / AFP
– gave full throttle
However, he is quick to recall that there is room for surprises, which he himself believes was during the championship on Italian soil in 1997.
– I haven’t remembered any of that for so long, kidding.
– He was 1.2 seconds behind the leader after the first half, Sébastien Amiez. I think I went down three tenths to 10th place. I felt that I had everything to lose and that I had to run everything I could to win a medal. Amiez probably felt like he had all the time in the world, Stiansen recalls.
In the end, the Frenchman was five hundred hundredths late. Stiansen became a world champion, just two months after claiming his first World Cup winner.
– It was incredible. When I saw Liensberger lying on the ground in the finish zone after Saturday’s race and wondering what had happened, he reminded me of how he was in the finish zone in 1997 and I thought he was great. I am very grateful to have experienced it.
