Emotional Feller delights home crowd with maiden Kitzbuehel win

Manuel Feller (AUT/Atomic) delighted the home crowd by winning Sunday's Slalom to secure his first ever Audi FIS Apline World Cup victory in Kitzbuehel.

Feller was fourth fastest in the first run, and put down a blistering second run to usurp long-time leader Linus Strasser (GER/Head) with a total time of 1:40.60, before seeing off the charge of the three final skiers.

One of those was Loic Meillard (SUI/Rossignol), who was almost half a second faster than the next fastest skier in the first run, but could not match the second run of Feller, as he finished in second place (+0.35) and pushed Strasser into third (+0.53).

It was the first time an Austrian skier had won the Kitzbuehel Slalom since Marcel Hirscher achieved the feat in 2017, and a first Austrian World Cup win of any kind on the iconic slope since Vincent Kriechmayr (Head) won the Downhill there in 2023.

Victory was the realisation of a childhood dream for Feller, who lives close to the famous piste, as well as redemption after a poor start to the season where he only had one top-10 finish to his name coming into the weekend.

"Unbelievable. I can't find any words for this, I'm just so emotional," the Atomic skier said.

"So good for me after such a horrible start to the season. Also privately a really tough period of my life.

"I just kept on fighting as I've always done and today everything paid off."

It was Feller's eleventh race on the famous Kitzbuehel slope, and a first ever podium after four top-10 finishes and a best result of fourth in 2024.

"I just tried to show my best skiing. The past years I probably wanted it too much," said Feller, who has joined Tomas Sykora in fifth place on the list for the most Slalom World Cup podiums among Austrian athletes with 21.

"On this hill probably the best tactic always was to just show some solid skiing, let the ski go early and don't push for something special.

"Today I felt the perfect flow."

That 2024 race was won by Strasser, who finished second behind Feller in the Slalom standings that season but has struggled ever since. Sunday's result was his first World Cup top-three finish in nearly two years, and his relief was plain for all to see as he held his arms aloft on the podium.

"In the training runs it was already very good skiing, consistent skiing. In the races it always felt a bit bad," the Head skier said of his previous difficulties.

"But I knew what the problem was; I didn't have the balls to go in that last click to search for the speed or the limit.

"That was the main goal for the second run, to go over that step.

"It's so nice when everything works out.

"This race is just the cherry on the top. The way to this race today, the month before, I've worked really hard. That's what makes me very proud."

Second place represented a third Slalom podium of the season for Meillard, who finished in the top three in Kitzbuehel for the first time in ten attempts.

"Of course I skied for victory and I tried to get it but Manu was better than me today," the Rossignol athlete said.

"It was a good step in the right direction and in the end for me it's a first podium in Kitzbuehel so I can be happy with that."

Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (BRA/Atomic) was edged out of a podium place by Strasser by four hundredths of a second, while Eduard Hallberg took fifth after finishing one hundredth of a second behind the Brazilian.

The result was enough for Pinheiro Braathen to claim top spot in the Slalom standings, with previous leader Atle Lie McGrath (NOR/Head) dropping to third after continuing the curse of the red bib with a DNF.

Check out the full results from the men’s Slalom in Kitzbuehel here, with the latest season standings in the race for the Slalom Crystal Globe here.

Also, do please head to Reuters Connect and Actionpress.de to view and purchase a wide selection of superb photographs like those above from this race and indeed from all FIS events.