(Kitzbühel) German skier Linus Strasser won a World Cup slalom at the Hahnenkamm classic races on Sunday, marking his first victory in two years.
Strasser moved up from fourth position with the fastest time in the second run to beat Kristoffer Jakobsen by 0.14 seconds.
The Norwegian, wearing bib 20, had beaten the pre-race favorites to lead the first heat.
Daniel Yule, who won the race last year and in 2020, finished third, 0.20 behind the winner.
“I made it,” said Strasser, who knelt and kissed the snow after maintaining his lead.
Strasser was born in Munich but grew up in Kitzbühel.
“I learned to ski here, my parents moved here and I did my first race here. I always dreamed of coming back as a World Cup skier and winning the World Cup,” he said.
It was Strasser’s fourth World Cup victory, but the first since his triumph in a night race in Schladming in early 2022.
Austrian Manuel Feller finished fourth, leading the discipline rankings after three slalom victories this season.
His country was deprived of a slalom podium for the first time this season.
Jakobsen had not completed the first run in his previous three slaloms. He started the season in November ranking 11e in another resort in the Austrian Alps, Gurgl.
It was Jakobsen’s third podium in 85 World Cup starts, having finished second and third in two slaloms in December 2021.
The men’s World Cup remains in Austria for giant slalom and slalom on Tuesday and Wednesday.