On Saturday and Sunday, female alpine skiers visited the Slovenian resort of Kranjska Gora to participate in the Golden Fox technical competition. Even though the best technical skiers of the generation, Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova, who used to dominate these races in previous seasons, were absent due to injuries, the weekend brought thrilling competition and stunning performances.
- Related post: Shiffrin Out Due to an Unusual Injury
The Giant Slalom on Saturday
The slope in Kranjska Gora belongs to the most challenging tracks on the World Cup circuit. Sara Hector (SWE) proved that with her exceptional strength, the steepest and most difficult slopes suit her. The same can be said about Alice Robinson (NEZ), whose aggressive style brings the best results on the most demanding tracks. Sara Hector was in the lead after the first run, with the miraculous youngster Lara Colturi (ALB) trailing 1,13 seconds behind. They both proved to have nerves of steel. Sara Hector defended her lead to claim the victory, and Lara Colturi kept her head calm to finish second. Thea Louse Stjernesund (NOR) did not deliver on the promise of her third place from the first run, allowing Alice Robinson to claim the third spot on the podium. The downhill queen Sofia Goggia (ITA) performed superbly in both runs and showed that she takes the competition for the overall big Crystal Globe seriously when she finished fifth.
The Thrilling Slalom on Sunday
The slalom piste on Sunday was icier than the ladies are used to; however, in the pre-race interviews, they all applauded the organizers for the track preparation. Wendy Holdener (SUI) set the time with bib number 1 and left the first run as one of the leaders. The Croatian shooting star Zrinka Ljutic, having a huge crowd to support her in Slovenia (neighboring Croatia), nailed the first run and tied with Wendy for first place, and behind them trailed the overall and slalom tour leader Camille Rast (SUI), then came Anna Swen-Larsson (SWE), Emma Aicher (GER) and Melanie Meillard (SUI).
The latter two are not used to starting so late in the second run, even though Meillard has her most successful season this year. She held onto her fifth position in the final results. Emma Aicher, however, did not finish the second run and did not use her remarkable first run result to collect any points. AJ Hurt (USA) started the second run as 11th, and she attacked the gates with the run of her life but did not finish.
The final was to be decided between the first four. Ultimately, Camille Rast did not do as well as Anna Swen-Larsson, who ranked third.
Wendy Holdener performed such an aggressive and precise run that everybody thought this was it; nobody could outrank her. Indeed, not the young lady at the start, who lacked the experience to handle the pressure of the almost home fans.
But Zrinka Ljutic surprised everybody. She was aggressive, smooth, precise, and fast and ran down to claim her second consecutive World Cup slalom win.
The female technical specialists have a free week before they meet in Flachau, Austria. The speed specialists are in the hunt in the overall ranking, as 7 out of 10 places in the top 10 are occupied by women who rarely or never race in the speed disciplines, which means that everything is open and this season’s outcome is far from given.
