The second race and the first slalom of the new season of alpine ski World Cup was held today in Finnish Levi.
And after a few seasons in which Croatian skiers weren't able to show their talents, today three out of five of the Croatian skiers managed to get into the second run, and in the end, all three of them secured the top-20 position! Henrik Kristoffersen won today (his first win in almost two years), while Istok Rodeš was 14th, Filip Zubčić 16th and Elias Kolega 19th.
Kolega performed the best out of the group in the first run, securing the 10th position before the second run, but his second run was not at such a high level which brought him down to the 19th position. Istok Rodeš was 12th in the first run, but it was Filip Zubčić who can be said to have accomplished a miracle today: his starting number was 70, and with such a high number he barely got into the second run (he was 29th in the first). Then, in the second run, his time was the third-best time of the run (!), which secured him the 16th place overall.
The other two Croatian skiers today on the starting list were Matej Vidović, who was not able to qualify for the second run and Samuel Kolega who did not finish the first run. Frenchman Clement Noel took the second spot today, and Daniel Yule of Switzerland was the third.
As is customary, after the opening weekend in Finland, the Alpine Ski World Cup now moves to the American continent, where Lake Louise will host two fast races next weekend, a downhill and a Super-G. The next slalom race, which we're looking forward to the most, will happen after the skiers have returned to Europe, in Val d'Isere in mid-December.
