Slalom, Men

The slalom was the last individual Alpine skiing event for men in Beijing and it was the race with the most medal candidates of any Alpine skiing event. In the current ongoing World Cup season, six races had been held and every race saw a different winner with Clément Noël (Val-d’Isère), Sebastian Foss Solevåg (Madonna di Campiglio), Johannes Strolz (Adelboden), Lucas Braathen (Wengen), Dave Ryding (Kitzbühel), and Linus Straßer (Schladming). These six winners were from five nations and the 18 podium places had been climbed by 14 different athletes.

The leader of the standings just before the Games was Braathen, followed by Foss Solevåg and Manuel Feller. The last two Crystal Globe winners were Marco Schwarz (2021) and Henrik Kristoffersen (2020), while the reigning 2021 world champion was Foss Solevåg. Marcel Hirscher had won the slalom World Cup in 2018 and 2019 and was also world champion in 2019, but he was retired, as was the 2018 Olympic champion André Myhrer.

After the first run Strolz, who despite having already won one race this season still had a high bib number with 19, was in the lead, but he only led by 0.02 seconds ahead of Kristoffersen. Next was Foss Solevåg another 0.04 seconds behind, which was the closest result after a first slalom run ever in Olympic history, with the top three places separated by only 0.06 seconds. The 12th fastest finisher after the first run, (Giuliano Razzoli), was only 87/100ths of a second behind the leader, and skiers from 15 different nations placed in the top 30.

On the second run Daniel Yule set the second-best run time to improve from 13th to a final sixth place, and he led up to Noël who, after placing sixth in the first run, set the best run time. None of the top five after the first run had been able to catch him. Next came Strolz to win silver and Foss Solevåg who secured bronze, with Kristoffersen finishing fourth.

Clément Noël was the first French Alpine skiing gold medallist since Antoine Dénériaz, who won downhill gold in 2006. For Strolz it was his second medal at the Beijing Games after winning gold in the Alpine Combined. Manufacturer Dynastar (gold) and Völkl (bronze) won their first Alpine skiing medals in Beijing while Head (silver) continued their run of winning a medal in every event.