Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Swiss veteran Thomas Tumler captured his first ever World Cup victory on Sunday when he won the giant slalom at Beaver Creek, edging Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen by 0.12sec over two runs. The 35-year-old, who made his World Cup debut in 2012, soared down the Birds of Prey course in a two-run total time of 2:27.60 to defeat the Norwegian-born Brazilian’s 2:27.72 total, with Slovenian Zan Kranjec third in a combined time of 2:28.18.
In his 124th World Cup start, Tumler took his long-awaited step to the top of the podium. “I don’t have the words,” Tumler said. “When I saw that Beaver Creek was on the calendar in a big way I was super happy. It’s going to take me time to realize it,” he said of the achievement. Tumler, who was fastest in the opening run in 1:16.24, had the seventh-best second run in 1:11.36 compared to Braathen, who was 0.95sec better with the fastest time in the second run.
The 35-year-old Swiss took his first World Cup podium at Beaver Creek in 2018 when he was third in a giant slalom on the Colorado course. His other World Cup podium placings were a runner-up effort in Parallel-G at Chamonix, France in 2020 and a third place in the giant slalom in Saalbach, Austria last March.
Braathen, the 24-year-old son of a Norwegian father and Brazilian mother, had five wins in five World Cup seasons before retiring in October 2023. He announced his return last March but competing for Brazil not Norway, so his podium finish was the first from Brazil in Alpine Ski World Cup history. While Braathen settled for second place, his 80 World Cup points pushed him into the lead in the giant slalom season title chase, 130-129 ahead of Norway’s Alexander Steen Olsen and five ahead of Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen, who finished fifth. Tumler jumped to fourth on 118.
Kranjec, 32, took a silver medal in giant slalom at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Reigning World Cup champion Marco Odermatt — the Swiss star who won a third straight World Cup overall title plus downhill, super-G and giant slalom titles last season — was eighth after the first run, 1.26 seconds adrift, but fell on the second run.
© 2024 AFP
