Atle Lie McGrath (C) celebrates his win with compatriots Timon Haugan (L) and Henrik Kristoffersen (R) after their Norwegian podium sweep of the World Cup slalom in Wengen

Wengen (Switzerland) (AFP) - Atle Lie McGrath led a Norwegian podium sweep of the men’s World Cup slalom in Wengen on Sunday ahead of Timon Haugan and Henrik Kristoffersen.

US-born McGrath, 24, had dominated the first run and sealed his third World Cup win and first in three years with a combined time of 1min 45.94sec.

Haugan was second at 0.18sec with Kristoffersen third at 0.29sec.

McGrath had led Kristoffersen by 0.43sec in the first run in the Swiss resort.

Loic Meillard lead the way in the second run with McGrath 1.29sec behind the Swiss racer but it was enough to seal his fifth podium finish of the season, and fourth in the slalom.

“In Wengen you hear everything at the start and I knew it was already double Norwegian so I felt like it was my duty to make it triple Norwegian,” said McGrath.

“This was the second time in a row, in a week, where I had over (half) a second lead and today I decided I was going to ski smart and if it was enough, it was enough.

“When it was, I just couldn’t believe it. All the emotions bottled up over the last years and last weeks came out at once.”

Kristoffersen extends his lead in the discipline standings to 65 points on Meillard who finished fifth having trailed 24th after the first run.

France’s Clement Noel, winner last weekend in Adelboden, finished 11th and dropped to third from second in the discipline standings.

Kristoffersen is second in the overall World Cup standings 232 points behind Marco Odermatt who did not compete on Sunday.

“Maybe (I am) a little bit hot in the head,” Kristoffersen said.

“I maybe want it a little bit too much, I maybe go in a little bit early at times and then I hit the tracks a little bit wrong. Maybe I want it a little bit too much instead of just calming down and hitting the tracks. But that’s how it is.”

Norway also swept the men’s World Cup podium in the giant slalom season opener in Soelden, Austria.

Austrian Manuel Feller, last season’s slalom Crystal Globe winner, finished eighth having failed to finish four times this season, having won four slaloms last season including Wengen.