An emotional Manuel Feller achieved his childhood dream of winning the men’s slalom at the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup in Kitzbühel, Austria, on Sunday (25 January.)
In clear, cold conditions, the home favourite was fourth after the first run.
Knowing he needed to go all out in the second, the 33-year-old executed an ultra-aggressive top section before showing huge mental and physical strength to recover from a wide turn to clock 1.60.40 overall and take top spot.
A nervous wait in the leader’s chair followed as his rivals tried and failed to topple his time.
Run 1 leader Loic Meillard of Switzerland finished second (+0.35 back), while Linus Strasser of Germany completed the podium in third (+0.53 back), and an emotional Feller, who has had an inconsistent season, sank to his knees and celebrated with the crowd.
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen of Brazil finished fourth.
“I can’t describe how much this means to me,” Feller said after, fighting back tears of joy.
“It’s probably been my toughest season and one of the toughest parts of my life. I was close to quitting a few times as I didn’t have the energy but I kept on going as this has never been an option in my life. Fighting and fighting was worth it, and thank you to everyone to believing in me, and myself too.”