Unheralded Swiss wins World Cup Alpine combined race
WENGEN, Switzerland — Wearing the No. 51 bib of a total longshot, Swiss skier Niels Hintermann took advantage of the starting order to win a World Cup Alpine combined race on Friday.
Hintermann was 23rd-fastest in the morning slalom, and that proved the key to victory. With the top 30 starting the afternoon downhill in reverse order, he completed his run as falling snow slowed the course for higher-ranked racers.
Hintermann had never before finished in a top 20 in his World Cup career and was unheralded even to fans in ski-crazed Switzerland.
Yet he gave the struggling home men’s team a first win this season by finishing 0.26 seconds ahead of Maxence Muzaton of France. Frederic Berthold of Austria was third, 0.35 behind Hintermann.