Atle Lie McGrath leads Norwegian sweep in Wengen World Cup slalom

Atle Lie McGrath protected his first-run lead and completed a Norwegian sweep of the podium in a World Cup slalom on Sunday in Wengen, Switzerland.

McGrath celebrated victory just as he did posting the fastest time in the morning run — kicking up his right ski to flip it end over end and catching it, in the style of Swiss former downhill star Didier Cuche to delight fans in the finish area.

The United States-born Norwegian finished 0.18 seconds ahead of Timon Haugan, who was 10th-fastest in the first run. Henrik Kristoffersen was 0.29 back in third and extended his lead in the season-long slalom standings.

"It means a lot, it's been three years since my last win," a tearful McGrath said of his victory. "It's so cool to come down and be a triple Norwegian win. I was so close last year, I'm a bit overwhelmed."

WATCH | McGrath wins Wengen slalom:

Atle Lie McGrath wins slalom in Wengen, Norway sweeps podium

While Switzerland has been the strongest men's team across the World Cup disciplines this season, Norway is a solid second now with five race wins by five different skiers. Haugan and Kristoffersen also each won a slalom and joined McGrath for hugs after he finished.

"It's incredible," McGrath said. "We're a small team but we have super high quality and we have generally really nice people who want each other [to do] well."

Switzerland is still searching for a first slalom win at Wengen since 1987, though had Tanguy Nef, Loic Meillard and Daniel Yule finishing fourth, fifth and sixth.

McGrath, whose father Felix raced for the U.S. team at the 1988 Calgary Olympics, had described Cuche after his morning run as "one of my heroes."

"He told me in Kitzbuhel last year that if I taught his son how to ski slalom he would