Alex Vinatzer ends his slalom crisis

After a disappointing first run, Alex Vinatzer caused a sensation at the slalom final in Val d'Isère.

14 December 2025

From: dl

In giant slalom this winter, Vinatzer finished in the top eight in four races and even secured his first podium finish. However, in his strongest discipline, slalom, he has yet to place higher than 19th this year. This was also the case in the first run in Val d'Isère, where the Val Gardena native was in 25th place. But in the final run, he demonstrated his true class and ultimately finished fourth.

Despite poor snow conditions and numerous DNFs, Vinatzer made the most of his favorable starting number in the second run. However, the 26-year-old missed out on his fifth World Cup podium finish by 76 hundredths of a second. The victory went to Norway's Timon Haugan, who overtook Loic Meillard, who had led at the halfway point. The Swiss skier thus missed out on a double victory in Val d'Isère.

Alex Vinatzer improved his position by 21 places in the final. © ANSA / SEBASTIEN NOGIER

Third place went to another Norwegian, Henrik Kristoffersen. Tommaso Sala was the second-best Italian, finishing seventh. The second South Tyrolean, Tobias Kastlunger, who was 29th after the first run, failed to finish the final – as did Clement Noel, Lucas Braathen, and Atle Lie McGrath. Matteo Canins and Simon Maurberger missed qualifying for the final.

Now to Val Gardena

The men's Ski World Cup now moves on to Val Gardena, where the first training run is scheduled for Tuesday. The first downhill race will take place on the Saslong course on Thursday.

Keywords Winter sports Alpine skiing Val d'Isère Alex Vinatzer