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Sometimes, a race seems destined to follow a predictable courseโuntil it doesn’t. With Mikaela Shiffrin wearing bib 1, the prospect of her taking an early lead and holding it unchallenged loomed large. The rest of the podium seemed equally predictable, but Gurgl, Austria, sure had some surprises in store this Saturday, November 23. The two-run format delivered its usual nail-biting excitement, punctuated by upsets and surprises at every turn.
Run 1
Shiffrin started strong, gliding out of the gate in her trademark smooth style, but the mid-section of the technically demanding course, set by Sloveniaโs Denis ล teharnik, tested even the GOAT. โItโs a challenging hill and the conditions are โฆ good,โ Shiffrin explained, โโฆhard,โ she added, โrock-hard conditions,โ Shiffrin laughed in her interview with Swiss TV station SRF post-race. The American stated she felt good about her first run but had moments that felt unstable, yet maintained her flow, crossing the line in 51.08 seconds.. A total of 15 skiers ended Run 1 with the dreaded DNFโDid Not Finishโnext to their name. Shiffrin admitted, โI knew on the second run I would have to give it all.โ
Katharina Liensberger of Austria, starting second, followed with a time more than half a second behind Shiffrin, while Switzerlandโs Michelle Gisin, the third starter, struggled and finished a disappointing 2.88 seconds behind Shiffrin. The Swiss was visibly annoyed with her own performance but was not the only one who struggled on the technically demanding course. Swedenโs Sara Hector, another strong contender, also fell short, crossing the finish line more than a second behind Shiffrin.
Germanyโs Lena Dรผrr, in bib 7, slotted into third place, 0.70 seconds behind Shiffrin, creating a podium reminiscent of last weekโs race in Levi, Finland. The top seven ranked Slalom skiers sit in a league of their own and benefit from always receiving the first seven bibs of a World Cup race in a lottery system. With the top seven skiers having completed their run, the expectations for surprises were low, but this was when things truly got interesting in Gurgl this Saturday.
Switzerlandโs Camille Rast in bib 10 was the first to shake things up, edging out Dรผrr by a mere 0.02 seconds. Americaโs Paula Moltzan in bib 11 skied a solid run but could not shake up the top ranking and finished 0.05 seconds behind Dรผrr and 0.75 seconds behind her teammate Mikaela Shiffrin. Rastโs teammate Wendy Holdener, in bib 14, added to the shake up, managing to be the oly skier to beat Shiffrin on the top section. Coming off an ankle fracture, Holdener managed to extend her lead to 0.19 sections going into the steep mid-section but thenrelinquished her lead, skiing across the finish line a mere 0.13 seconds behind Shiffrinโa remarkable return from injury.
However, the biggest surprise on Run 1 came from 18-year-old Lara Colturi, competing for Albania. Skiing in bib 27, the dual Italian-Albanian citizen blazed her way into fourth place after Run 1, ahead of seasoned competitors. Adding to the unpredictability, Italyโs Lara Della Mea in bib 40 broke into 10th place, while the U.S.โs Katie Hensien in bib 43 followed closely in 11th, just 0.01 seconds behind Della Mea.
Run 2
With this much shake up in the race, which saw some top skiers like Anna Swenn Larsson barely qualify for a second run, or in Michelle Gisinโs not qualify at all, the audience knew that there could be some surprises for Run 2. Run 2 is conducted in reverse order, meaning the 30th-fastest skier goes first and the fastest skier goes last. Croatiaโs Zrinka Ljutic, seventh out of the gate, claimed the lead and the 20-year-old held it through a string of strong, more-experienced competitors. Canadaโs Laurence St.-Germain, whose coach Francis Royal had set the course, came close to unseating her, leading in the upper section before losing time on the lower part of the slope.
Katie Hensienโs strong bid for FIS points ended with a missed gate, marking her second consecutive DNF after Levi. Lara Della Mea, too, couldnโt capitalize on her first-ever World Cup top-10 qualification, catching her ski on a gate early in the run. Melanie Meillard from Switzerland managed to beat Canadaโs St.-Germain but failed to unseat Zrinka Ljutic. First to unseat Ljutic was Swedenโs Sara Hector who was eighth last starter and beat the Croatianโs combined time by an impressive 0.41 seconds. Next up was Paula Moltzan who extended her lead from Run 1 on the upper half of the course at Gurgl. She was smooth down the mid section but gave back some of her time advantage, but it was enough to take the lead from Hector by 0.12 seconds. Germanyโs Lena Dรผrr followed, recovering from a mistake at the top to claim the lead with a 0.30-second margin on Moltzan.
Switzerlandโs Camille Rast, who has never won an individual podium, was fifth last starter and attacked the gates with precision and aggression, connecting her turns beautifully through the steep mid-section to take the lead by 0.23 seconds. But the spotlight turned to 18-year-old Colturi, who delivered a poised and confident run, surpassing Rast by 0.02 seconds and earning her first time in the leaderโs seat. However, the top three skiers were still to go, so anything could happen, and Colturiโs first time in the leaderโs seat might not last long. Yet third-last skier Katharina Liensberger faltered in the mid-section, finishing behind Moltzan, securing a podium spot for Colturiโthe first-ever World Cup podium for Albania. Prior to today, Colturi had achieved a personal best of ninth place for Albania in Flachau, Austria, in January this year.
The second to last skier was Wendy Holdener who had impressed on Run 1. She was smooth on the top section but a bit too aggressive on the steep mid-section and got stuck at two gates, costing her valuable milliseconds. Holdener could not beat Colturi or Rast and Colturiโs eyes widened in surprise when she realized that she would hang on to her leaderโs seat all the way until the last skier, which was legendary Mikaela Shiffrin, and Colturi and Rast joyfully embraced in the finish area.
Shiffrin came into Run 2 with a 0.61-second lead on Colturi and the American managed to extend her lead in the top section. She got caught on a gate and gave back a tiny bit of that advantage but went into the steep mid-section with smooth turns, carrying a 0.55-second lead across the finish line and awarding her her 99th career victory.
A Podium of Milestones
The smiles on the podium said it all. Third-placed Camille Rast celebrated her first individual podium after previously placing second in the Team Parallel in 2023. Lara Colturi, fresh off her 18th birthday, marked a historic moment for Albania with her second-place finish. Shiffrin, meanwhile, with 154 podiums and 99 victories to her name, edged closer to the 100-victory milestoneโa feat she could achieve on home turf in Killington, Vermont, in just one week, a feat that she described as โnot impossible.โ The Gurgl victor admitted to feeling a lot of pressure going into Killington, โA lot of things have to go right for it to happen,โ but the American shared with a smile how exhilarating a historic 100th win would be in front of a home crowd.
