Alpine skiing: Zenhäusern and Simonet on the podium in Chamonix

Zenhäuser is back in second place: Simonet on the podium from 30th after a round

Two Swiss are the big winners in the second slalom of the World Cup in Chamonix, which was marked by great changes. Ramon Zenhäusern Sandro Simonet finished second and third behind Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen.

What a crazy race it was that Sunday in Chamonix. It was clear from the start that the track, which was prepared with a lot of salt, would not be able to withstand the loads of the 30 finalists. The final classification was not expected to have such a different face compared to the classification after the first race.

Zenhäuser was in eleventh place after the first round, and in the end he repeated his result from the day before. This winter was the third podium for the six-foot man. Shortly before Christmas he had won the start at Alta Badia.

Sandro Simonet was present for the first time at an award ceremony. The Bündner, who had achieved eighth place in slalom nearly three years ago at Kranjska Gora as the best result in the World Cup so far, seized the opportunity and slipped into the role that Luca Aerni had played brilliantly on the day. previous.

Simonet was the last to qualify for the second round, one hundredth of a second ahead of 31st. Like Aerni, the Bündner posted a best top time and achieved a record jump of 27 places in the final standings. Simonet became the sixth Swiss slalom rider to also qualify for a selection for the World Championship at Madonna di Campiglio.

Two Swiss slalom riders in the top three in the World Cup, that had only happened once before. That was in December 1978, when Martial Donnet and Peter Lüscher celebrated a double hit at Madonna di Campiglio.

Aerni, the top-ranked Swiss in the first race in fourth place on Sunday, fell back to 17th on the battered track. Daniel Yule continued the series of disappointing results with 18th place. Like the day before, Marc Rochat fell back in the final standings after a strong first heat. The Vaudois remained in 21st place.

Only Kristoffersen could withstand the onslaught of houses Zen and Simonet. Following his success at Madonna di Campiglio, the Norwegian who was already in the lead after the first heat celebrated his second slalom victory this winter, which for the most part has so far not gone according to his wishes.

The Frenchman Alexis Pinturault fell back to eighth place as second in the first race, the Austrian Marco Schwarz as third in the intermediate classification was placed in sixth place. However, Carinthia’s victory in the discipline ranking should not be taken away. Before the last two slaloms of the season, he leads the standings 146 points ahead of the second-place Zen houses.

(zap / sda)