KITZBÜHEL: On-fire Henrik Kristoffersen is the skier to take over from injured Norwegian teammate Aksel Lund Svindal in the battle for the overall World Cup crystal globe, favourite Marcel Hirscher insisted Sunday.
Svindal has long been the powerhouse of the Norwegian team and this season was no difference, the 33-year-old having notched up seven victories.
His latest was in Friday's super-G, but his dream of a third overall title went up in smoke in Saturday's downhill, a horrific crash throwing the towering Norwegian high into the sky before sliding into the safety netting.
The diagnosis was immediate and bad: ruptured knee ligaments that required surgery, ruling him out for at least nine months.
Kristoffersen and Kjetil Jansrud will now have to continue without Svindal as they try to add to the remarkable tally Norway have notched up so far this season of 14 victories out of 24 races.
The 21-year-old Kristoffersen became the first Norwegian to win a Kitzbuehel slalom when he edged out Hirscher by three-hundredths of a second on Sunday, the "Attacking Vikings"' 14th win of the alpine year.
Hirscher's second place saw him move to within 27 points of Svindal's lead tally in the overall standings.
With the injured Norwegian obviously unable to add to that, Hirscher pinpointed Kristoffersen as his main rival in his bid for an unprecedented fifth consecutive overall title.
"It's no joke, I think Henrik is the favourite because if he skis like he showed us in the last six races, in slalom as well as giant slalom, he's the guy to beat," said Hirscher.
"He's at the top of his game. He's nearly unbeatable and can go on to win maybe nine races. He reminds me of one season when I made the podium 11 times in 12 races."
Kristoffersen, now 118 points behind Hirscher in the overall standings, was quick to retort: "Well, Marcel's my favourite!"
The Norwegian, whose victory was his fifth of the season, added: "At the moment, I'm just skiing, it's so much fun to ski.
"Yesterday was really sad. When you see a crash like that, I know it's spectacular and maybe that's why Kitzbuehel's Kitzbuehel.
"When it's a teammate of your's it's for sure not fun, especially not fun when it's Aksel.
"He's been a big idol for me for a long time and he's helped me out a lot so to lose him is really sad, of course worse for him, but also for the entire team.
"But when you're at the start like today, you've just got to put that out of your head because I can't change what happened, so I have to do my thing and see how it goes."
Kristoffersen did indeed produce the goods on the second run after finishing in 12th, 0.83sec off German Fritz Dopfer's lead pace, on the first leg.
He laid down a near-faultless second run to clock 52.99sec for a combined 1min 43.96sec.
It was his ninth career victory and followed slalom wins this year in Val d'Isere, Madonna di Campiglio, Adelboden and Wengen, and second place in Santa Caterina.
"My second run was all or nothing. I was a little smarter than in the first run," Kristoffersen said.
"I went really fast between the rollers. Coming from behind from 12th is one of the the greatest achievements of my career for sure, it's one of the most impressive wins for myself."
Hirscher said he was "super happy with a second consecutive podium in Kitzbuehel" after also finishing second last season.
"I've never seen the Ganslern course as difficult as this season. The rolls are sharper, bigger, steeper, more icy, more slippery, everything is more!" he said.
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