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WENGEN, Switzerland — World Cup slalom leader Manuel Feller denied the Norwegian men an emotional win Sunday, one day after their team leader, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, crashed in downhill and was airlifted from the Wengen course.
Feller edged Atle Lie McGrath for victory for a second straight Sunday, by 0.10 seconds instead of the 0.02 margin one week earlier at nearby Adelboden.
McGrath said after setting the fastest first-run time in the morning that he was “just skiing for Aleksander today.”
The Vermont-born McGrath protected his lead through every time check in the afternoon until losing almost four-tenths of a second through the twisting final section. He put his right hand to helmet in the finish area seeming not to have understood how the win slipped away.
“I probably need to thank him [McGrath] for pushing me,” Feller said. “My skiing is probably the best I have ever shown.”
Henrik Kristoffersen, the Norwegian world champion, dropped to third place, trailing 0.21 behind Feller, who had been third-fastest in the morning.
Feller now has won three of four slalom races this season and extended his lead in the discipline standings with McGrath now second.
McGrath produced the standout run of the morning acknowledging, “I didn’t sleep much last night,” reflecting on Kilde’s hard crash Saturday into courseside fences by the finish line.
Before the race Sunday, Kilde posted a photograph from his hospital bed with partner Mikaela Shiffrin in Bern, where he had surgery.
The Norwegian ski federation said Kilde had a dislocated shoulder and a cut to his right calf but no fractures.