Norwegian skier Timon Haugan wins Val d'Isere slalom

VAL D'ISERE, France (AP) — Norwegian skier Timon Haugan won a World Cup slalom on Sunday for his first victory of the Olympic season.

Haugan moved up from second after the opening run to finish 0.28 seconds ahead of first-leg leader Loic Meillard.

Norwegian veteran Henrik Kristoffersen finished third, 0.34 behind.

Haugan has finished in the top five in seven consecutive World Cup slaloms — the longest current streak in the discipline.

It was his sixth World Cup victory, with five of them coming in slalom and one in a team parallel.

Meillard led a Swiss sweep in a giant slalom on the Val d’Isere course on Saturday.

Kristoffersen earned his 97th World Cup podium, moving him within four of Marc Girardelli for third on the all-time list. Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark holds the record with 163 podiums.

Alex Vinatzer jumped up from 25th after the opening run to finish fourth with the fastest second run, and Oscar Andreas Sandvik moved up from 23rd to fifth.

Atle Lie McGrath and Lucas Pinheiro Braathen both straddled gates during the second run after placing in the top five in the morning leg.

The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics will be held Feb. 6-22, with men’s Alpine skiing to be held in Bormio.

The men’s circuit now moves to Val Gardena, Italy, for speed races.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Norway's Timon Haugan celebrates winning an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom event, in Val d'Isere, France, Sunday Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Norway's Timon Haugan, left, winner of an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom event, celebrates with second placed fellow-countryman Henrik Kristoffersen, in Val d'Isere, France, Sunday Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom event, in Val d'Isere, France, Sunday Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)

Norway's Timon Haugan celebrates winning an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom event, in Val d'Isere, France, Sunday Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men¥s World Cup slalom event, in Val d¥Isere, France, Sunday Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)

Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom event, in Val d'Isere, France, Sunday Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Norway's Atle Lie McGrath speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom event, in Val d'Isere, France, Sunday Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Norway's Timon Haugan speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men¥s World Cup slalom event, in Val d¥Isere, France, Sunday Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Switzerland's Loic Meillard speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom event, in Val d'Isere, France, Sunday Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

SYDNEY (AP) — Two gunmen attacked a Hannukah celebration on a Sydney beach Sunday, killing at least 11 people in what Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called an act of antisemitism and terrorism.

The massacre at one of Australia’s most popular and iconic beaches followed a wave of antisemitic attacks that have roiled the country over the past year, although the authorities didn’t suggest those episodes and Sunday’s shooting were connected. It is the deadliest shooting for almost three decades in a country with strict gun control laws.

One gunman was fatally shot by police and the second, who was arrested, was in critical condition, authorities said. Police said one of the gunmen was known to the security services, but that there had been no specific threat.

At least 29 people were confirmed wounded, including two police officers, said Mal Lanyon, the police commissioner for New South Wales state, where Sydney is located.

Police said officers were examining a number of suspicious items, including several improvised explosive devices found in one of the suspect’s cars.

“This attack was designed to target Sydney's Jewish community,” the state's premier, Chris Minns, said. The massacre was declared a terrorist attack due to the event targeted and weapons used, Lanyon said.

Hundreds had gathered for the Chanukah by the Sea event celebrating the start of the eight-day Hanukkah festival.

Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement that runs scores of centers around the world that are popular with Jewish travelers and sponsors large public events during major Jewish holidays, identified one of the dead as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and a key organizer of the event.

Video footage filmed by onlookers appeared to show two gunmen with long guns firing from a footbridge leading to the beach. One dramatic clip broadcast on Australian television showed a man appearing to tackle and disarm one of the gunmen, before pointing the man’s weapon at him, then setting the gun on the ground.

Minns called the man a “genuine hero.”

Police said emergency services were called to Campbell Parade in Bondi about 6.45 p.m. responding to reports of shots being fired.

Lachlan Moran, 32, from Melbourne, told The Associated Press he was waiting for his family nearby when he heard shots. He dropped the beer he was carrying for his brother and ran.

“You heard a few pops, and I freaked out and ran away. ... I started sprinting. I just had that intuition. I sprinted as quickly as I could," Moran said. He said he heard shooting off and on for about five minutes.

“Everyone just dropped all their possessions and everything and were running and people were crying and it was just horrible," Moran said.

The violence erupted at the end of a hot summer day when thousands had flocked to the beach.

“It was the most perfect day and then this happened,” said local resident Catherine Merchant.

“Everyone was just running and there were bullets and there were so many of them and we were really scared,” she told Australia’s ABC News.

Albanese told reporters in the Australian capital, Canberra, that he was “devastated” by the massacre.

“This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith. An act of evil, antisemitism, terrorism that has struck the heart of our nation,” Albanese said.

“Amidst this vile act of violence and hate will emerge a moment of national unity where Australians across the board will embrace their fellow Australians of Jewish faith,” he said.

World leaders expressed condolences. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the “ghastly terrorist attack” and offered his condolences to the families who lost their loved ones.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was being updated on the “appalling attack.” Police in London said they would step up security at Jewish sites.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on X that “The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Australia targeting a Jewish celebration. Antisemitism has no place in this world.”

Australia, a country of 28 million people, is home to about 117,000 Jews, according to official figures. Antisemitic incidents, including assaults, vandalism, threats and intimidation, surged more than threefold in the country during the year after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel launched a war on Hamas in Gaza in response, the government's Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal reported in July.

Throughout last summer, the country was rocked by spate of antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. Synagogues and cars were torched, businesses and homes graffitied and Jews attacked in those cities, where 85% of the nation’s Jewish population live.

Albanese in August blamed Iran for two of the attacks and cut diplomatic ties to Tehran. The authorities didn't make such claims about Sunday's massacre.

Israel urged Australia's government to address crimes targeting Jews.

“The heart of the entire nation of Israel misses a beat at this very moment,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said. “We repeat our alerts time and time again to the Australian government to seek action and fight against the enormous wave of antisemitism which is plaguing Australian society.”

Mass shootings in Australia are extremely rare. A 1996 massacre in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur, where a lone gunman killed 35 people, prompted the government to drastically tighten gun laws and made it much more difficult for Australians to acquire firearms.

Significant mass shootings this century included two murder-suicides with death tolls of five people in 2014, and seven in 2018, in which gunmen killed their own families and themselves.

In 2022, six people were killed in a shootout between police and Christian extremists at a rural property in Queensland state.

McGuirk reported from Melbourne, Australia, and Graham-McLay from Wellington, New Zealand. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

A small Christmas tree is at the center of an abandoned holiday picnic at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Bystanders stay where police cordon off an area at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Emergency workers standby at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)