Racing in his first competitive race since the Olympic Slalom, Baxter put nine months of legal wrangling behind him, to take third in Loveland, Colorado at the Nor-Am event. The event is the traditional warm-up for the opening World Cup in Park City next week.

So close to top spot
Flying on the second run, Baxter narrowly missed out on a victory, a mistake on the final pitch costing him the race, nonetheless recording the fastest time of any racer on the second run (49.38).

Younger brother Noel Baxter (21) made a strong start to his season¹s campaign finishing in 17th, with Gareth Trayner (22) close behind in 31st, showing significant improvement in the 2nd run.

There is much at stake for these younger members of the strong British Land Men¹s technical squad, who with Johnny Moulder-Brown (24) will compete for the right to be beside Alain in the starting line up for next week¹s World Cup.

Head coach Christian Schwaiger was delighted with his team¹s performance, stating, "It was a fantastic performance. Alain is normally a cool customer at the start. Today he was cooler than ever."

The race was won by Austria¹s Rainer Schoenfelder, last year¹s victor in Kitzbuhel. With Tom Rothrock of the USA carrying a strong 1st run advantage into 2nd place.

The Nor-Am series continues tonight in Colorado with a 2nd men¹s slalom.

1 50547 SCHOENFELDER R AUT 49.42 49.65 1:39.07 7.73
2 532497 ROTHROCK Tom USA 48.79 50.38 1:39.17 8.31
3 220044 BAXTER Alain GBR 49.87 49.38 1:39.25 8.77

17 220083 BAXTER Noel GBR 50.55 50.46 1:41.01 18.89
31 220076 TRAYNER Gareth GBR 54.19 52.55 1:46.74 51.86

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