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Surprise French skier Paco Rassat claimed his first career World Cup victory on Saturday in Gurgl, Austria, winning his second slalom of the Olympic season thanks to a brilliant second run.
Rassat's triumph came six days after his previous best result of sixth place in the season-opening slalom in Levi, Finland.
“I never imagined this was possible,” he told Austrian television.
With less than three months until the Cortina Winter Games in Milan, Rassat could hardly have chosen a better time for his breakthrough.
“Of course I want to compete in the Olympics,” he said. “My goal at the moment is to compete at the World Championships and qualify for the Olympics.”
Racing in cold but sunny conditions in the Austrian Alps, Rassat was 14th after the first run, but set the fastest time in the second run by a wide margin to finish 0.07 seconds ahead of Armand Marchand, who gave Belgium its first ever Alpine Ski World Cup podium.
First rank leader Atle Lee McGrath from Norway dropped to third place, 0.09 behind Rassat.
“It's crazy,” said Rassat, who was 0.27 seconds faster than any other driver in the final run. “My dream came true today, so that’s amazing.”
The son of a ski instructor, Rassat took up the sport at a young age.
Specializing in the slalom discipline, the Frenchman made his World Cup debut in January 2022 and three years later achieved his first top-10 result, finishing ninth in the classic race in Wengen, Switzerland.
He said having his parents at Saturday's race “probably meant a lot.”
“My dad was my first coach and my mom was also at the club, so it's a big day for us and I'm really happy to share it with them,” said Rassat, who turned 27 last week.
His victory even took him to the top of the slalom and overall standings after three events.
Four-time overall champion Marco Odermatt won the season-opening giant slalom in Austria four weeks ago, but the Swiss star is not competing in the slalom.
Finnish prodigy Eduard Hallberg shared second place with Swiss rider Tanguy Neef after the first run, but lost his balance in the right turn and fell shortly before the finish.
Hallberg earned his first World Cup podium in Finland last week with a third-place finish at his home race in Levi.
Nave dropped to fifth place.
Lucas Pinheiro Braaten, who gave Brazil its first ever Alpine Ski World Cup victory last week, finished 10th, while Olympic champion Clément Noel of France was 12th.
Slalom world champion Loic Maillard was 20th after the first run before the Swiss skier failed to finish second, a week after he started the season 14th in the race in Finland.
The women's slalom on the same hill is scheduled for Sunday, and the men's world championship continues with the first speed race of the season: a super-G at Copper Mountain, Colorado, on Thursday.
