Loïc Meillard found a quick way to escape through the polar regions in the heavy snows of Bormio. The world slalom champion finished second in the Olympic slalom behind Atre Lee McGrath.

Atre Lee McGrath was in a class of his own on a course set by Ticino native Mauro Pini. Despite retiring three times, the 25-year-old Norwegian was the best slalom skier at this winter’s World Cup and quickly set the fastest time in No. 1, a feat that no one else could match.

Loïc Meillard, who started immediately after McGrath, had a good run but was already 0.59 seconds behind. The 29-year-old from western Switzerland has his sights set on winning his third medal in Bormio. He won silver with Marco Odermatt in the team combined in Valtellina a week ago, and bronze behind Lucas Pinheiro Braaten and Odermatt in the giant slalom two days ago.

Neff is far behind.

Meillard is the only member of the Swiss slalom quartet who still has a realistic chance of winning a medal after half a stint. A week ago, Tanguy Neff set an excellent best time in the team combined slalom, winning the Olympic gold medal with Franjo von Allmen. However, he was unable to increase his speed in the special rotation and fell 2.32 seconds behind McGrath. Therefore, the Geneva native finished in 11th place.

Matthias Itten (16th) and Daniel Juhl (19th) lost 0.5 seconds and 1 second respectively over Neff.

big gap

Apart from Meillard, only Austria’s Fabio Gustrein (0.94 seconds) and Norway’s Timon Haugan (0.96 seconds) lost to McGrath by less than a second. Armand Marchand of Belgium, who placed fifth, had a best time of 1.2 seconds, while Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway, who placed sixth, was 1.6 seconds slower.

Many famous “victims” lost their lives during the first slalom run, which took place on the lower, or flat, part of the downhill course. Among the eliminated athletes were Olympic giant slalom champion Lucas Pineiro Braaten of Brazil, Austria’s Kitzbühel slalom winner Manuel Ferrer, two-time slalom champion Paco Lasat of France, and fellow strongman Eduardo Hallberg of Finland.

Haiti takes the lead in the second game

Of the 95 racers who started in the morning, only 46 were classified. With a dropout rate of over 50 percent, Haitian Richardson Viano finished 30th despite being eight seconds behind and was scheduled to start his final run at 1:30 p.m.

The final run is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m.