KITZBUEHEL, Austria, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Austrian Manuel Feller won his home Kitzbuehel slalom on Sunday for his first World Cup podium appearance of the Alpine ski season.
The 33-year-old beat Switzerland's Loic Meillard, leader after the first leg, by 0.35 seconds over the two runs after being fourth-fastest initially.
It was his seventh career World Cup victory and he is the first Austrian to win the slalom in Kitzbuehel since Marcel Hirscher in 2017.
Germany's Linus Strasser finished third to complete the podium.
"So good for me after such a horrible start to the season. Also privately a really tough period of my life," Feller, who had not managed a top-10 finish this season, said.
"I just kept on fighting as I've always done and today everything paid off."
Meillard was almost half a second faster than the next-quickest skier in the first run, but was only 17th quickest in his second attempt as he blew his chance of victory.
Feller looked emotional as Meillard crossed the line.
"On this hill probably the best tactic always was to just show solid skiing, let the ski go early and don't push for something special," he said. "Today I felt the perfect flow."
Meillard, the 2025 slalom world champion, claimed his third podium of the year in the discipline, moving up to third in the overall World Cup standings.
"Of course I skied for victory and I tried to get it but Manu was better than me today," he said.
Norwegian-born Brazilian Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who was only 11th after the first run but then skied second-fastest in the decisive one, was fourth.
Pinheiro Braathen leads the slalom standings by 26 points from France's Clement Noel, with Norway's Atle Lie McGrath dropping to third after failing to finish the first leg of Sunday's race.
The men have one more slalom in Schladming before next month's Milano Cortina Olympics.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin and Martyn Herman in London; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and David Holmes)
