Johannes Strolz of Austria captures first World Cup win after stunning rivals in classic Adelboden slalom
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Updated 09/01/2022 at 14:44 GMT
Johannes Strolz has created one of the biggest upsets in years on the Alpine skiing World Cup. The 29-year-old Austrian stunned the field in the classic Adelboden slalom for his first career victory. It caps a remarkable comeback story for Strolz, who was dropped from Austria's official World Cup team for this season.
Strolz seals fairytale win in Adelboden
Johannes Strolz created one of the biggest World Cup upsets in years by stunning the field to win the classic Adelboden slalom Sunday for his first career victory.
The 29-year-old Strolz had never finished better than 10th in a World Cup race but beat fellow Austrian Manuel Feller by 0.17 seconds to force himself into Austria’s Olympic team for Beijing.
It caps an unlikely comeback story for Strolz, who was dropped from Austria’s official World Cup team for this season after struggling to put up results in recent years. That means he’s had to pay his own way to compete on the circuit this year and train by himself, although that sacrifice seems well worth it after his stunning win.
“It’s just unbelievable. I just tried to do my best skiing and push to the limit and it worked out well today,” said Strolz, who is the son of former Olympic champion Hubert Strolz. “I’ve struggled so many times in my career before and now finally it all came together. So I’m very happy.”
Strolz had start bib No. 38 on Sunday, marking him as a rank outsider. But he finished the first run in seventh place and then saw six skiers fail to beat his time in the second run.
First-run leader Fabio Gstrein was the final threat, but the Austrian skied out halfway through his run – although he was already trailing Strolz by then on the intermediate times.
Even after the first run, Strolz said he didn’t allow himself to start thinking about a possible podium finish.
“I just tried to focus on my skiing and do what I always do and listen to my coaches, and it worked out so well today,” he said.
Linus Strasser of Germany was third, 0.29 seconds behind Strolz.
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