Albert Popov finished 18th in his first start of the new Alpine World Cup season. The Bulgarian registered 13th best time in the first run of the slalom in Levi, in which the country's other representative Kalin Zlatkov dropped out. For Popov, this is his best result in the Finnish winter center since his 20th place in 2018.
Albert clocked 21st in the second run and ended up +2.51s behind today's slalom winner Clément Noel of France. Noel was also the leader after the first run, and in the second he comfortably reached victory number 11 in the World Cup. Henrik Kristoffersen came second on the podium. The Norwegian had a wonderful second run after being 11th after the first. It was his second consecutive podium finish after his second place finish in the giant slalom in Sölden, Austria. Switzerland's Loic Meillard was third.
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (Brazil), Tanguy Neff (Switzerland), Steven Amiez (France), Linus Strasser (Germany), Alexander Steen Olsen (Norway), Samuel Kolega and Filip Zubcic (Croatia) also made the top 10. Three failed to finish - Adrian Meisen (Germany), Fabian Ax Schwartz (Sweden) and Manuel Feller (Austria). Legend Marcel Hirscher, who returned to the World Cup under the Dutch flag, failed to break into the top 30 for the second run after his 46th time in the first one.
Kristoffersen leads the overall standings for the Grand Crystal Globe with 160 points. A new slalom is coming up for the skiers - in Gurgl, Austria, next weekend. | BGNES
