Industry News
Today, January 30, saw a stunning day at Kronplatz, Italy, for the Women’s Giant Slalom event. Last year at Kronplatz, Mikaela Shiffrin famously eclipsed Lindsey Vonn for most World Cup victories by a female Alpine skier, but today’s race was going to be held without the American ski racer, as she is still recovering from an injury she sustained at the Downhill in Cortina, Italy.
Giant Slalom races are conducted in two runs, with the combined time of both runs counting. Only the top 30 skiers from run 1 advance to run 2, which is conducted in reverse order.
Run 1
Ragnhild Mowinckel, who had claimed her first Super-G victory last weekend at Cortina, was first out of the gate, setting a fast pace of 1:01.25 minutes. Italy’s Marta Bassino could not match the speed, crossing the finish line more than half a second after the Norwegian. However, Mowinckel’s lead was short-lived, as Sweden’s Sara Hector skied into the lead 0.09 seconds ahead of her rival from neighboring Norway. Next up in bib 4 was Federica Brignone who like her teammate Bassino could not best the Scandinavians.
All eyes were on the next skier, Lara Gut-Behrami in bib 5. The Swiss skier is currently leading the Giant Slalom standings. The 32-year-old ski racer skied into the lead with an incredible lead of 0.69 seconds on Hector. Following this extraordinary performance was New Zealand’s Alice Robinson in bib 6, who slid in between the big gap between Hector and Gut-Behrami into second place.
No subsequent skier came close to contesting the top six starters. U.S. Ski Team member Paula Moltzan finished run 1 in ninth place, 1.52 seconds behind Gut-Behrami, and AJ Hurt in 15th place, 1.74 seconds behind the leader, thus qualifying for run 2.
Run 2
Realistically it is hard to win a Giant Slalom race from outside the top five from run 1 so naturally expectations were high for the final five skiers. Brignone was the fifth fastest skier from run 1 and thus the fifth last starter and her teammate Sofia Goggia had set the pace for the best combined time by this stage. Goggia and Brignone might be teammates but there is a fierce rivalry between the two, so when Brignone failed to beat The Queen of Speed’s combined time, she was furious and her ski pole got to feel the brunt of it, as the seasoned Giant Slalom specialist let out a frustrated scream in the finish area. Goggia may have smiled just a little but her smile did not last long as her time was beaten by the next skier, fourth fastest Ragnhild Mowinckel from Norway, who had also snatched victory from her in her favorite discipline, Downhill, at Cortina just three days ago.
Next up was Sweden’s Sara Hector, who put down a powerful run, skiing into the lead 0.14 seconds ahead of Mowinckel. Following this strong performance was New Zealand’s Alice Robinson who had only a 0.09-second lead from run 1 on Hector. Robinson is known for her aggressive skiing and the Wonder from Downunder certainly went for it. At the top section, she was faster than her Swedish rival but she lost some milliseconds further down the course and everyone was holding their breath as she crossed the finish line. It looked close. Very close. In fact, it was indistinguishable from Hector’s time — a rare feat when you have two runs counting. Would it be double-silver or double-gold for the pair, one wondered, but the last skier, Lara Gut-Behrami, had an incredible 0.59-second lead on Robinson from run 1, which is significant. Gut-Behrami showed just who is boss, with a near-flawless run and managed to extend her lead on each section of the course, gaining another half second on Robinson, and finishing 1.09 seconds ahead of Hector and Robinson’s combined time. An incredible performance by the seasoned Swiss ski racer! This marks Gut-Behrami’s 42nd World Cup victory and fifth season victory.
