Henrik Kristofferesen (NOR) won the debut men’s slalom race of the 2015-16 Audi FIS World Cup season, beating the rest of the field by 1.09 seconds in a race packed with twists and turns in Val d’Isere (FRA).

Kristoffersen topped the top slalom names as aces Marcel Hirscher (AUT) and Felix Neureuther (GER) settled for second and third place, respectively, despite turning in outstanding performances on the second run.

The the 21 year-old Norwegian showed no signs of pain from a crash yesterday as he held a comfortable 1.66 lead over Hirscher and a 1.02 lead over Neureuther after the first run. But the veteran pair showed why they are among the best slalom skiers in the second run as they amazed the crowd with the fastest runs of the day.

"After the first run, it was disappointing," said Hirscher. "We analyzed it and changed things a lot for the second run.I'm smiling, I'm happy and I'm super pumped. It was one of those runs that I usually skied when I was 18 years-old. I was great to be sometimes over my limit and run completely on the edge."

It left all the pressure on the shoulders of Kristoffersen, who skied a nearly flawless run to close the day with a 1.09 second win.

An acrobatic crash yesterday left Kristoffersen looking bruised and battered. But today the Norwegian was all smiles as he stormed down the tricky course wearing Bib #1, laying down the fastest time on the first run, and following up with the second fastest time on the second run. It was Kristoffersen’s fourth-ever World Cup slalom victory.

"I'm a little sore today after yesterday's crash," said Kristoffersen. "I hurt my leg and hip a little bit, but it's ok.I was feeling bad after the first run, the course was really tight and turny, but it was like that for everyone. On the second run, I only knew that Marcel had skied really fast and that I had to push it."

The slalom athletes had to wait a long time to get their season started with the traditional start to the slalom season in Levi (FIN) cancelled. But the superb conditions and the steep ‘La Face’ course in Val d’Isere was well worth the wait.

The course proved to be tricky for many of the top athletes as five of the top 30 skiers came away with no points after not finishing. Among them were Sebastian Foss-Solevaag (NOR) and Alexis Pinturault (FRA), who were in second and third place after the first run.

Overall, it was an excellent opening slalom race and one that will surely leave fans eagerly anticipating the next race of the season, which will take place in Madonna di Campiglio (ITA) on 22 December.

Click here for full results.

Source: fis-ski.com