Henrik Kristoffersen takes advantage of Nef mistake for 20th career slalom victory

Henrik Kristoffersen ended a year-long wait for his 20th career slalom win Saturday, triumphing in the first men's World Cup race after the Beijing Olympics.

And the Norwegian skier put himself in contention for what would be his third slalom season title, too.

Kristoffersen benefited from a mistake by first-run leader Tanguy Nef. The unheralded Swiss, who started 25th and whose best career result is a sixth place, led a World Cup race for the first time.

Nef had been 0.07 seconds faster than Kristoffersen in the first leg and managed to maintain that advantage in his final run until straddling a gate just before going into the steep finish section in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Nef's mishap handed Kristoffersen his first slalom victory since triumphing in Chamonix, France, in January 2021. In the past 13 months, he had only won a giant slalom, in December.

The result came after Kristoffersen started working with a new ski technician, replacing Philippe Petitjean, who had prepared his skis since 2013.

"We changed a lot in December, which is quite late in the season, but it's working so good now," said Kristoffersen, who just missed an Olympic medal by placing fourth in Beijing.

"Now we just have to focus on the skiing and everything is possible," he added.

Switzerland's Loic Meillard, who trailed Kristoffersen by 1-100th of a second after the first run, finished 0.14 behind in second in a two-run time of one minute 46.28 seconds.

Manuel Feller (1:46.65) trailed by 0.51 in third, followed by his Austrian teammate and three-time Olympic medallist, Johannes Strolz. Calgary's Erik Read was 18th of 25 finishers in 1:48.01.

Olympic champion Clement Noel skied out in his second run. Racing in mild temperatures, the