Feurstein opens World Cup season with 10th-place finish in Sölden

Patrick Feurstein finished 10th in the men’s giant slalom in Sölden on Sunday, opening the new ski World Cup season as the second-best Austrian, ORF reported.

The skier from Mellau was 15th after the first run and gained five places in the second. He finished 1.11 seconds behind winner Lucas Pinheiro Braathen. Raphael Haaser, the giant slalom world champion, climbed from 20th to fifth. Swiss skiers Loic Meillard and Marco Odermatt completed the podium.

Vorarlberg racers Lukas Feurstein and Noel Zwischenbrugger did not qualify for the second run, which was limited to the top 30. Lukas Feurstein placed 46th in the first run and Zwischenbrugger was 55th.

Victoria Olivier of WSV Au also missed the second run in Saturday’s women’s race. She finished 49th in the first run, 0.73 seconds short of qualifying.

The next World Cup stop is Levi in mid-November, where both competitions will be slaloms.