Loïc Meillard clinched the slalom gold medal, his third in just five days, to help the Swiss men’s team set a new record for most medals at the World Alpine Skiing Championships.
Meillard triumphed by a slim 0.26-second margin over Norwegian Atle Lie McGrath, with both skiers’ times combined from two runs in Saalbach, Austria. German skier Linus Strasser secured the bronze.
French Olympic gold medalist Clément Noël led after the first run but skied out in the final gates of the second run. He had trailed Meillard by just 0.16 seconds at the last intermediate time check.
The Swiss men finished the Championships with an impressive four gold medals across five events and a total of nine medals, surpassing the previous record of eight medals held by the French in 1966 and the Austrians in 2005 and 1962.
Switzerland’s overall performance, with 13 total medals and five golds across all events, marked the best result for any nation since Austria’s same tally in 1999.
Meillard and Wendy Holdener led the way with three medals each at these Championships. In addition to his slalom victory, Meillard won a team combined gold with Franjo von Allmen and a giant slalom bronze. The Swiss team also earned gold in the downhill through von Allmen and in the super-G thanks to Marco Odermatt.
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