Industry News
The final race of the 2024-25 Alpine Ski World Cup season brought high drama to the slopes of Sun Valley, Idaho, where Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen secured his fourth career slalom Crystal Globe. While victory on Friday, March 28, went to Norway’s Timon Haugan, for American ski fans, the day was equally about Ben Ritchie, who delivered a career-best performance in front of a home crowd. Rounding out the podium were Clement Noël from France and Fabio Gstrein from Austria.
Ritchie, the lone U.S. skier in the men’s slalom finals, fought his way to seventh place—his best World Cup result yet. Starting with bib 18 on a rapidly softening course, the 23-year-old Vermonter sat 15th after the first run but found another gear in the second, charging down the slushy track to climb eight spots. “My biggest goal for the year was to qualify for the finals,” Ritchie said. “Having it here in the U.S. and getting this result makes it a little more special.”
It was a fitting conclusion to a breakout season for Ritchie, a former junior world champion who had struggled to make an impact on the World Cup circuit. Before this season, he had never finished higher than 14th in a World Cup slalom. In 2024-25, he notched three top-10 finishes and five top-15s, vaulting to 17th in the overall slalom standings—an impressive jump from 41st the previous year.
At the top of the leaderboard, Kristoffersen entered the race with a 47-point lead in the slalom standings, knowing he needed only a solid finish to claim his fourth discipline title. The Norwegian delivered, skiing to fourth place on the day, enough to clinch the Globe and match Italian legend Alberto Tomba with four slalom season titles. “It’s more of a relief than happiness, to be honest,” Kristoffersen said. “I knew what I had to do, but it would have been disappointing not to win it.”
The battle for the race win was fierce. Norway’s Timon Haugan took the victory in 1:43.61, edging France’s Clement Noël by just 0.03 seconds. Austria’s Fabio Gstrein rounded out the podium in third, while Kristoffersen’s main rival, Loïc Meillard of Switzerland, finished fifth—ensuring the Norwegian’s title was secure. For Noël, the result was bittersweet. He narrowly missed out on a season podium finish, dropping to fourth in the slalom standings despite four victories this season. “I feel like I deserved better,” Noël admitted. “Fourth, that stings a little bit.”
While Kristoffersen celebrated his fourth title and Haugan claimed his third win of the season, the American crowd had plenty to cheer for in Ritchie’s performance. His aggressive second run showcased the potential that U.S. ski racing fans have been waiting to see translate to the World Cup stage. “I was a little uncertain about the conditions—it’s super warm here,” Ritchie said. “I skied tentatively on the first run, and that fired me up to take more risk on the second one.” His seventh-place finish is the highest for an American man in slalom since Luke Winters placed sixth in Madonna di Campiglio in 2021. With the U.S. men’s technical team searching for a consistent contender in the discipline, Ritchie’s rapid improvement offers hope.
As the 2024-25 World Cup season wraps, Kristoffersen remains the dominant force in men’s slalom, but Haugan, Noël, and Meillard are closing the gap. And with his breakthrough season now in the books, Ritchie may soon be in that conversation as well.
