Paco Rassat races to 2nd World Cup slalom win in breakout season ahead of Olympics

ADELBODEN, Switzerland (AP) — The big surprise of the World Cup slalom season scored his second win Sunday adding to his fast-rising reputation before the Winter Olympics.

Paco Rassat raced to the fastest time in the second run to rise from fourth place, and push two Norwegians down the podium steps after they had been fastest in the morning run.

United States-born Atle Lie McGrath was edged out by 0.18 seconds and first-run leader Henrik Kristoffersen dropped to third, trailing 0.20 behind Rassat.

The 27-year-old Frenchman had a career-best result of ninth in World Cup races before this Olympic season started.

Rassat now has two wins, a third place and two sixth places this season and shapes as a medal contender for the Milano Cortina Olympics. The men’s slalom is on Feb. 16 at Bormio.

“To win on this crazy hill at Adelboden, It’s something really unbelievable,” Rassat told Swiss broadcaster RTS, describing his season as “a magnificent surprise.”

Rassat also took the lead in the seasonlong World Cup slalom standings, ahead of his France teammate Clément Noël, the defending Olympic champion. Noël tied for eighth Sunday.

McGrath was runner-up in the Adelboden slalom for the third time in four years.

“It’s kind of crazy,” said McGrath, whose father Felix skied for the U.S. at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. “I’m of course super happy, it’s such a challenging slope and mentally it’s one of the toughest places to perform because of this amazing crowd.”

Another packed finish-area crowd at Adelboden observed a minute’s silence before racing for the victims of the fatal fire in a bar in nearby Crans-Montana on New Year’s Day. Crans-Montana hosts men’s and women’s World Cup races in three weeks’ time.

The World Cup overall standings leader, four-time title holder Marco Odermatt, does not ski slalom and his huge lead was cut a little by Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who placed fourth. Pinheiro Braathen was second to Odermatt in the classic giant slalom Saturday.

The men’s World Cup circuit stays in central Switzerland for the storied Lauberhorn meeting at Wengen, for a super-G on Friday, the classic downhill Saturday and a slalom Sunday.

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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing