The last technical men’s World Cup races held at Hafjell, in Norway, before the upcoming Finals in Sun Valley, USA, were once again very successful for the Swiss team as Loic Meillard celebrated his first season wins on the tour a month after clinching FIS Gold in slalom at Saalbach 2025. In Saturday’s giant slalom, the skilled 28-year-old Swiss beat by 16/100 of a second his teammate Marco Odermatt while another athlete from their squad, Thomas Tuemler, the winner at Beaver Creek last December, came in 3rd – helping his team to enjoy its first clean sweep in giant slalom since January 1983!
On Sunday, Loic became one of the few gate specialists in recent years to won both technical races at the same event as he beat by a few hundredths Norway’s Atle Lie McGrath while Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, 4th the previous days, was a very happy 3rd this time. Timon Haugan came in 4th only 6/100 of a second from the podium. Two weeks ago, Henrik Kristoffersen was able to accomplish the same feat!
The Norwegian kept his lead in the slalom standings with his 5th place after ending a disappointed 16th in the giant slalom, which prevents him from challenging Odermattany longer in the GS World Cup standings. The Scandinavian veteran, who didn’t feel well this week, will travel to the USA with a lead of 47 points on Meillard and 86 on France’s Olympic Champion Clément Noël, only 7th in that race after having clocked the 4th best time in the morning leg.
Loic Meillard, who has reached the podium in slalom four times since the season-start, was extremely happy with his second win in two days, especially after making a major mistake in the middle of his second run. “I was lucky to remain in the run, I fought very hard in the final part to save a good result,” he explained afterwards. “It was quite a nice surprise to see the green light when I watched the scoreboard, it means a lot for me to win both technical races in the same weekend,” added Loic who enjoyed his sixth triumph on the World Cup tour in five years including a parallel slalom at Chamonix in February 2020.
The three-time junior World Champion, including here at Hafjell back in mars 2025 when he clinched the combined gold, hopes to remain in good shape for the Finals in Idaho where he may also enter the Super-G competition. Loic felt some pains at his back before the races but managed to overcome the trouble to move at his best level over the weekend. At Sun Valley, he’ll also be battling for the 2nd place in the overall World Cup standings besides aiming for a crystal globe in slalom. “47 points don’t seem a lot at first sight, but it’s still a lot as I would need to score big points to have a chance to have a real chance, I won’t think about it before the last race, I just hope to feel well and be focused,” the Swiss, born in the region of Neuchâtel before moving to Valais, also commented.
Atle Lie McGrath was thrilled to have ended the European circuit on such a glorious result after celebrating a couple of very exhilarating moments earlier this winter. “I won the classic slalom at Wengen, then a medal at Saalbach 2025 and was part of the strong Norwegian team that dominated the races at Soelden and Wengen – and now I reach another podium here in front of many friends, what can I asked for more,” the 24-year-old member of the famous Baerums Ski Club said. “Our generation has been waiting for a long time to compete on home snow in such an event, it means a lot to us.”
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen was particularly emotional after finding out he’ll return on the podium two weeks after his great race at Kranjska Gora. “I have a hard time expressing my feelings now, this is truly incredible for me, reaching a World Cup podium on this slope where I raced so often in my younger years is just fantastic,” the Brazilian told the press. “I don’t know if I even could put a number on all the times I was here since I started to ski and to race. So many of my fundamentals as a skier are laid here on this slope and to compete in front of this great crowd and seeing all those Brazilian flags is just wonderful.”
“It’s dream that I achieved today, the dream of a twelve-year-old kid who had no success and no money at that time. It’s also very special to share that incredible moment with my friend Atle who has so often be with me in those days. I’m beyond proud of what I have accomplished here and in recent months, trying to show who I am. I thought I had a good chance for victory today but I lost too much time in the final part to bring the first victory in a ski race to Brazil. I’ll give again my best in two weeks at the Finals,” also shared Lucas before heading to the award ceremony.
The 25 best racers in each specialty are now on their way to Idaho for the Finals which are taking place over ten days with the speed races scheduled next weekend on a newly created course while the technical races should be organized from Tuesday 24th to Thursday 27th. Several World Cup standings are still undecided such as the classifications for women and men in downhill and slalom as well as the giant slalom and Super-G globes for women. A group of top champions such as Marco Odermatt, Franjo von Allmen, Federica Brignone, Lara Gut-Behrami, Alice Robinson, Sofia Goggia, Camille Rast or Zrinka Ljutic will be fighting for them.
Odermatt is aiming for another strong end of the season despite his fatigue. He was more than pleased to enjoy his sixth podium finish in his last seven competitions including his Super-G victory at Crans-Montana three weeks ago. “I’m very happy with the result of this competition as I’m now sure to collect my fourth giant slalom globe in less than two weeks with today’s excellent result –and I’m so excited to again share the podium with two of my colleagues,” Marco told the press. “It has been a very long and sometimes tiring season for me and I needed to dig deep in my physical and mental reserves to achieve two solid runs on this nice hill,” Odermatt added.
“It’s tough to focus at the same time on winning the GS standings and skiing as aggressively as possible without being afraid to make a bad mistake. To excel again in those standings despite my two missed races at the start of the season means a lot to me as I consider myself foremost as a giant slalom specialist. It was not as easy for me as in past seasons, probably because I also tried hard to improve my potential in downhill. I became a better glider but in that process I may have lost some of my feelings for aggressive and quick GS turns.”
“I think I had another strong season and reached most of my goals in the past months, I had to fight pretty hard again as there are now more racers able to win races,” also explained Marco who is turning 28 next October. Since early December, the Swiss superstar has been able to reach each week at least a podium in three specialties except at Bormio where he ended twice 5th in downhill and Super-G after the shocking crashes of some of his colleagues as France’s Cyprien Sarrazin.
The leaders of the organizing committee were quite satisfied to have been able to run a total of eight competitions within three weeks – and in two different resorts. “It was quite a challenge sometimes because of the weather, but we are all very proud to have properly managed it, we enjoyed seeing the happy faces of the FIS race directors and the team captains after the races,” said Ole Kristian Kirkerud, the president of the OC.
“The fact that a group of top athletes including four world champions from Saalbach 2025 dominated half of the races is very meaningful for us. It showed that our slopes were very well prepared and favored the very best among the participants of 24 nations. The slalom on Sunday was definitely very exciting for us with many of our own racers fighting for victory. The crowd was very happy too. It’s also important to hear that most of our volunteers are already planning to come back next year for the Finals. They really did a tremendous job in cleaning the course pretty quickly. We hope that the racers also enjoyed racing in Hafjell which had not hosted a major event since the 1994 Olympics. The last men’s World Cup race took place there in 1991 – that’s a long time. Now let’s see what the future will bring us,” Mr. Kirkerud also commented.
Written by: Patrick Lang
