TL;DR
The FIS Slalom World Cup in Gurgl delivered an unexpected shake-up as France's Paco Rassat claimed his first career win and Belgium's Armand Marchant secured his country's first-ever World Cup podium. With established contenders faltering on a technical second run, the result raises questions about form heading into the season.
Surprise Results Dominate Second Slalom of 2025-26 Season
The second slalom race of the 2025-26 World Cup season in Gurgl, Austria on November 22 produced the kind of result that sends ripples through the technical discipline. France's Paco Rassat, a 27-year-old who's spent his career firmly in the middle of the pack, won his first World Cup race. More remarkably, Belgium's Armand Marchant finished second—his country's first-ever World Cup podium in any discipline.
Norway's Atle Lie McGrath, who held a comfortable 0.67-second lead after the first run, couldn't convert it into victory, finishing third after bleeding time throughout his second run. It's the sort of collapse that warrants scrutiny, particularly given the calibre of skiers who failed to capitalise on starting positions in the top ten.
The result follows last weekend's season opener in Levi, Finland, where Lucas Braathen took the win. Braathen struggled in Gurgl, managing only a mid-pack finish after errors on the steep upper section. The early-season form book is proving unreliable, which either signals an unusually competitive field or technical inconsistency among the established contenders. Time will tell which.
### First Run Sets Up Tight Field
The opening run saw McGrath establish his lead with a dominant performance, finishing 0.39 seconds ahead of Norway's Timon Haugan. Switzerland's Tanguy Nef slotted into third, just 0.17 seconds behind McGrath. The top ten were separated by a mere two-thirds of a second—tight margins that left everything to play for in the second run.Clément Noël, typically a strong first-run performer, posted 52.60 seconds but couldn't maintain the aggression needed throughout the course. Henrik Kristoffersen, in bib three, failed to find any rhythm. These are skiers who should be challenging for podiums, not finishing outside the top positions after the first run.Marchant qualified eighth after the first run with bib 23—a respectable position but hardly one that suggested a podium was imminent. Finland's Edvard Hallberg, who podiumed in Levi, backed up that result by qualifying second alongside Nef, suggesting his home-snow performance wasn't a fluke.Team USA had a forgettable day. Benjamin Ritchie finished 44th, Jett Seymour 41st, and Luke Winter recorded a DNF on what racers described as an icy course. None qualified for the second run, continuing a concerning trend for American men's slalom that extends beyond this season.### Second Run Produces ChaosThe second run course proved treacherous for the favourites. Austria's Dominik Raschner, starting fifth, posted a time that held up through eleven subsequent racers—an unusually long stint in the hot seat that indicated how difficult conditions had become.Rassat, starting from eighth position overall, executed what can only be described as a clinical second run. He undercut Raschner by 0.70 seconds, posting both the fastest second run and the fastest combined time of the day. With thirteen skiers still to come—including multiple World Cup winners—few gave him any chance of holding on.Then the implosion began. Marchant appeared poised to take the lead, 0.31 seconds up at the top section, but a mistake cost him momentum. He attacked to make up time and came within 0.07 seconds of Rassat—close enough for second, but the win had slipped away.Linus Strasser, starting fourth-last with a significant first-run advantage, surrendered it all on the top section, finishing 0.76 seconds back. Haugan, with more than half a second in hand, made small errors that accumulated into a 0.29-second deficit. Nef lost time early and finished 0.65 seconds behind.Hallberg's second run deserves particular attention. He posted the fastest top section of the second run and held the lead deep into the course before straddling a gate near the finish. It was the kind of aggressive skiing that nearly produced another podium but instead resulted in a DNF—a reminder of how fine the margins are at this level.McGrath, starting last with that comfortable 0.67-second cushion, simply didn't have it in the second run. He lost time throughout and finished third. For a skier with seventeen career podiums and three wins, failing to convert a lead of that size raises questions about whether he's carrying an injury or simply had an off day.
