World champion Henrik Kristoffersen has won a men's World Cup slalom in Val d'Isere for his first victory in nearly two years after first-run leader Steven Amiez's dreams of a maiden win were dashed.
Kristoffersen had two flawless runs on the challenging Face de Bellevarde course to finish 0.52 seconds ahead of Norwegian teammate Atle Lie McGrath and 0.89 faster than Loic Meillard of Switzerland.
It was a first victory for Kristoffersen since he triumphed in the world championships in February 2023.
It also came with a bit of luck, with the absence of injured Olympic champion Clement Noel and a tumble for Amiez, who had beaten Kristoffersen by 0.32 in the first run for hopes of a first victory in front of a home crowd.
The 26-year-old Amiez had never finished on a World Cup podium and his previous best was fourth in Austria last month.
"First of all, sorry for Steven. He's skiing really good and he will get there. So to the French public, 'don't worry, he will get there.'," the 30-year-old Kristoffersen said.
"And sorry about Noel. I wish we got to fight today, but yeah, very happy, very difficult today so experience is nice to have sometimes."
It was a third victory in Val d'Isere for Kristoffersen, who won slaloms there in 2015 and 2016.
"It was eight years since I won here the first time. And it's really good now because now they can't say 'it's been a long time, huh?'" Kristoffersen smiled.
"I had less worries then, I was less nervous. Now everyone expects me to do good all the time because I've been almost 90 times on the podium, won a lot of races, everything.
"So the expectation is always there, and also from my side. But of course, I'm a little older, a little more calm I feel … maybe."
Kristoffersen — who also tops the giant slalom leaderboard — moved 20 points above Noel in the slalom standings.
He also remained top of the overall standings, 18 points over McGrath and 110 ahead of defending champion Marco Odermatt, who does not compete in slaloms.
