Wengen (Switzerland) (AFP) - Showing astonishing skill on sticky snow, Norway’s Atle Lie McGrath surged to the top of the men’s World Cup slalom standings after winning in Wengen on Sunday just three weeks ahead of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.

McGrath led the first run and was fourth fastest in the second to finish 0.47 seconds ahead of Brazilian Lucas Pinheiro Braathen. Fellow Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen was third 0.81sec off the pace to claim his 100th World Cup podium.

“I know Lucas well enough to know that when he skis that fast, I have to risk everything,” said McGrath, who also won in the Swiss resort last year.

“I’m really trying to make Wengen a place I love and to win here back-to-back is just incredible. It’s one of the legendary races, so to do it with Lucas and with Henrik is just insane.”

With this fifth World Cup victory, his second of the season after the Alta Badia slalom in December, McGrath takes the red bib of discipline leader from Frenchman Paco Rassat, who crashed out in the second run and is now ranked fourth.

“Both times I’ve worn it (the red bib) this winter, I straddled a gate. I hope the third time it will be okay,” said the 27-year-old Rassat.

His fellow countryman and Olympic champion Clement Noel finished ninth three weeks before he defends his title at the Winter Games.

The 25-year-old McGrath takes the lead in the slalom standings with 372 points, 21 ahead of Pinheiro Braathen with Noel third, 29 points behind the leader.

Rassat was hampered by the soft snow, but the winner of Gurgl and Adelboden warned he would “use” this setback as motivation.

Winner in Wengen in 2019 and 2020, Noel also struggled on the surface.

“Overall, there’s nothing really positive to take away from today,” said the 28-year-old from the Vosges region of France who is already looking ahead to Kitzbuehel next Sunday, where he won last year.

- Incredible depth -

In their duel with the French, the Norwegian slalom skiers have regained a slight advantage, propelled by their incredible depth, whereas just a few years ago their results relied solely on Kristoffersen.

“Pretty quickly, I went from being the youngest guy on the team in 2022 to the second oldest,” McGrath said recently.

Born in Vermont, the son of American slalom skier Felix McGrath, he felt he was “finding (his) balance” between Norwegian reserve and a touch of American “madness”.

Hampered by two serious injuries over the past five seasons, McGrath now openly dreams of the Olympics.

“I think about it every day, and have for a few months now, I’ll be honest,” he confided.

With his fourth podium finish of the season – including a victory in the Levi slalom – Pinheiro Braathen can also dream of Bormio, which will host the men’s ski events of the Games in February.

On Sunday, he solidified his second place in the overall standings, 487 points behind the Swiss champion, Marco Odermatt with McGrath in third position.

Kristoffersen now has nine Wengen podiums to his name – including three wins – among his century of World Cup podiums.

“I just tried to ski to be honest. Today it was just technical skiing because I had no energy, especially on the second run,” he said.

“It was very tough. I’ve been in bed for six days, I haven’t been in the ski boots since Adelboden. I’ll probably go back to bed tonight and stay there for a couple of days.

“In the end it’s a big achievement for me. It’s a very nice hill with a lot of spectators. I’m very satisfied with the day overall.”