Alpine skiing
Ski ace Straßer on podium in the final: “Incredible season”
Came in second place in the annual ranking: Linus Strasser. photo
© Marco Trovati/AP/dpa
Linus Straßer is in the form of his life and races onto the podium again in the season finale. As a reward, he is now looking forward to spending time at home. Two Swiss still want to make history.
Even without the hoped-for final victory of the day, everyone was shining Linus Straßer in Saalbach-Hinterglemm and hugged his buddy-rival Manuel Feller.
Germany’s model racing driver rounded off a very strong World Cup winter with another podium finish. As third in the slalom, he proved once again that he is currently one of the best skiers in the world. “It was an incredible season,” summed up the Munich native on ZDF.
And how: After the prestigious triumphs in January in Kitzbühel and Schladming as well as two podium finishes recently in North America, the 31-year-old was only defeated in the 2025 World Cup venue by Timon Haugan from Norway and the overall discipline winner Feller. Straßer and Feller were still joking with each other as they crossed the finish line. When the Austrian celebrated with the small crystal ball, Straßer was already looking forward to his wife and little daughter, who were cheering along with their dad in the finish area.
Small mistake in the soft snow
The athlete from TSV 1860 Munich started the final round in second place. A small mistake shortly before the end cost too much time on the spring-like soft snow. Feller was four hundredths of a second shy of his home race. And then half-time leader Haugan brought his lead to the finish and celebrated his first World Cup victory.
Experienced driver Straßer was also happy with third place. “What I value most is consistency throughout the season,” he said. “I’m competitive everywhere. That’s the most fun and that’s what makes me the most proud. It’s very, very nice to end the season with such a result.” In the annual discipline ranking he came second behind Feller.
Looking forward to spending time with family
Given two wins and three more podium results in the last six slaloms of the season, one would think that he would prefer not to take a summer break at all. Straßer is now looking forward to spending time with his little family and being able to support his wife again after months of traveling around the world. “It’s time for me to give her a big hand again.”
While Straßer, Feller and Co. celebrated the end of the season, others still have the last two speed races coming up this weekend. The big crystal balls for the overall World Cup winners have already been distributed. After Marco Odermatt, his Swiss teammate Lara Gut-Behrami also made everything clear on Sunday: a tenth place in the giant slalom was enough for her second triumph in the overall World Cup after 2016. On top of that, the 32-year-old also secured the discipline ball. Her last remaining rival in both classifications, the Italian Federica Brignone, won the race clearly – but in the end it wasn’t enough.
Gut-Behrami and Odermatt want to make history
Like Odermatt, Gut-Behrami can now win the discipline classifications in Super-G and Downhill on Saturday and Sunday and make history with a four-pack of balls.
Odermatt messed up another entry in the history books on Saturday: he was eliminated and, after nine wins in nine giant slaloms, missed a perfect season in his special discipline. In addition, his winning streak ended after 12 giant slalom successes across seasons – Odermatt was close to reaching Ingemar Stenmark’s all-time record of 14 victories. “I’m angry with myself,” Odermatt commented on his “stupid mistake.”