Camille Rast won both giant slalom and slalom races on the tricky Podkoren 3 course in Kranjska Gora, beating the discipline dominators Julia Scheib and Mikaela Shiffrin. In Saturday giant slalom and Sunday slalom plenty of high-bib skiers made surprise appearances in second runs, including Dania Allenbach’s World Cup points on debut and Noa Szőllős’ first points for Israel.

by Maciej Jackiewicz

Saturday – Giant slalom

The women’s Alpine Ski World Cup weekend in the Julian Alps began with the giant slalom competition, which got underway at 10:00 local time. Camille Rast opened the race and immediately set a strong benchmark, stopping the clock at 1:01.38. The giant slalom on the Podkoren 3 course was held on a very icy surface, causing problems for many skiers already in the opening gates. As a result, competitors such as Zrinka Ljutić and Thea Louise Stjernesund were unable to deliver the runs they had hoped for.

Julia Scheib crossed the line 0.41 seconds behind Rast, but her position did not hold for long. She was first overtaken by Americans Paula Moltzan and Mikaela Shiffrin, before Lara Colturi of Albania moved ahead as well. At the end of the first run, the top five stood as follows: Rast, Moltzan, Colturi, Shiffrin and Scheib – a group that remained unchanged for the rest of the run. Several notable skiers failed to finish the opening run. Alice Robinson, after not completing the giant slalom in Semmering, made a similar mistake in Kranjska Gora and crashed out once again. From the second start group, Mina Fürst Holtmann and Clara Direz also did not reach the finish.

The difficult conditions did not prevent several high-bib skiers from qualifying for the second run. Cassidy Gray, starting with Bib 45, finished 15th, while Bib 38 Sue Piller ended the run in 20th place. Piller’s compatriot Simone Wild (Bib 57) placed 23rd, with Doriane Escané (Bib 51) just behind her. Particularly impressive was Dania Allenbach, as the 18-year-old World Cup debutant secured a spot in the second run by finishing 30th.

The second run’s course setting was noticeably quicker and shorter than the first. The skier who utilised this layout best was Sofia Goggia, who after posting only the 28th-fastest time in the opening run, charged up the standings with a superb 58.85-second second run to finish 11th overall. Several strong skiers attempted to challenge the Italian’s benchmark time, including Madeleine Sylvester-Davik and Britt Richardson, but none were able to outpace the two-time Olympic medallist.

It was only after the top ten from the first run began that Goggia’s time was finally beaten. Valérie Grenier briefly moved into the lead, but she was quickly displaced by Maryna Gąsienica-Daniel, who went 0.53 seconds faster than the Canadian. The Polish skier held the top spot for a short period before being overtaken by one of the discipline’s stars, Sara Hector. The Swede was more than a second quicker than Gąsienica-Daniel, though her run ultimately fell short of a podium finish.

Julia Scheib, who had been fifth after the first run, delivered another strong performance to move ahead of Hector. With both Mikaela Shiffrin and Lara Colturi unable to improve their positions, the Austrian secured her third consecutive giant slalom podium. Paula Moltzan came close to denying Scheib, finishing just 0.27 seconds behind the discipline World Cup leader. At the top, Camille Rast held her nerve. Despite the challenging conditions, the Swiss skier edged Scheib by 0.20 seconds to claim her first-ever World Cup victory in giant slalom. Scheib retained the lead in the discipline standings, while Alice Robinson’s DNF saw Rast move up to second overall.

Sunday – Slalom

The Sunday slalom started half an hour earlier compared to the giant slalom the day earlier, but the conditions were relatively similar. Lena Dürr opened the competition, but her time was enough just for 16th after the first run. The one to firstly beat the German skier was the slalom season dominator Mikaela Shiffrin, who was faster than Dürr by over two seconds. But here came the surprise – Saturday’s giant slalom winner Camille Rast was able to outpace Shiffrin by one tenth of a second, becoming the first skier this season to beat the American in the first run of a slalom race. Wendy Holdener meanwhile was situated in third, 0.67 seconds behind the American, chasing her first podium this season.

The tricky icy conditions in Kranjska Gora resulted in some notable skiers not finishing the slalom. Last year’s slalom World Cup winner Zrinka Ljutić did not finish a slalom for a fourth time in a row, after missing a gate of the Podkoren 3 course. A third DNF was added to the season record of Lara Colturi, who crashed, while Laurence St-Germain caught a gate with her ski which resulted in her not finishing.

Similarly to Saturday giant slalom, there were some high-bib skiers that made their way through to the second run. By far, the biggest surprise was the run of Noa Szőllős. The Hungarian-born Israeli alpine ski racer that started with Bib 70, set the 22nd-fastest time of the first run, scoring first ever World Cup points for Israel. Other skiers with high bibs that scored their premiere World Cup points were Moa Landström with Bib 58 and Emilia Mondinelli with Bib 53.

The second run was commenced by aforementioned Mondinelli and Landström, but the first skier that sat in the leader’s chair for a longer time was Nina O’Brien, who after a disappointing season so far made up nine positions in the second run – from 28th to 19th. Next, it was Giulia Valleriani that beat O’Brien by 0.26 seconds. The Italian was then bettered by Katharina Huber, and then Lena Dürr, who beat the Austrian by nearly eight tenths of a second. With that the German improved her position from 16th to 11th.

The Italians showed very good pace in Kranjska Gora. Another one of them was Martina Peterlini, who after finishing the first run in 13th, beat leading Dürr and finished the slalom in 10th. But the lead of the Italian was not long-lived, as Dženifera Ģērmane of Latvia outpaced the German by 0.53 seconds. Next athlete that sat in the leader’s chair was Lara Della Mea, as she was faster than Ģērmane by 0.21 seconds. And with that, only the top five was left.

The top five remained the same as after the first one, but it doesn’t mean there weren’t emotions involved while watching the runs of the best slalom skiers. Truppe, Moltzan and Holdener took the lead one after another, but the gaps were marginal. It all changed when Mikaela Shiffrin went on the course. After a magnificent ride, she crossed the line with a 1.69-second gap over Holdener. It seemed like the first run was just a minor mistake and that the American was back in dominating form in the second run. But Camille Rast proved her, and everyone wrong, by beating Shiffrin by just 0.14 seconds. With that, the Swiss became the first skier this season to win both slalom and giant slalom in one weekend. In the slalom World Cup standings, Shiffrin remained in the lead, while Rast overtook Colturi for second.

Results

Session	1st	2nd	3rd	Full results
Giant slalom	Camille Rast, 2:00.09	Julia Scheib, +0.20s	Paula Moltzan, +0.47s	Here
Slalom	Camille Rast, 1:40.20	Mikaela Shiffrin, +0.14s	Wendy Holdener, +1.83s	Here

Header photo credit: World Cup Kranjska Gora