On Thursday, the technical competitions opened with the women’s giant slalom. The weather deteriorated slightly; it was warmer, and the surface was less pristine than we got used to seeing it here in Saalbach, but the thrill remained.
Notable Absence
Mikaela Shiffrin expressed that she did not feel in proper form and shape for the giant slalom World Championships. It was giant slalom in Killington where she got the wound that sidelined her from competition for months with a murky perspective. Maybe psychology played a role in making this decision, but in the end, American fans had other causes to be happy. Shiffrin cheered her colleagues without skis, and her teammates made up for their missing leader.
- Related post: Shiffrin Out Due to an Unusual Injury
The Reigning Queen and the Rest
The ruling queen of the World Cup tour, the Italian Federica Brignone, did not give the others any chance. She led from the first run and even built on her advantage in the second. This was her dream, she said, as giant slalom is the most complicated discipline for her. As mentally strong as Brignone is, she always feels nervous at the start of this discipline. Thus, the gold was a challenge accomplished.
Silver went to New Zealand. Alice Robinson had her breakthrough at 17 and then struggled until this season. Everybody expected this wild woman, with an exceptionally aggressive style, to master the field even as she entered the stage, but the pressure was a little too high, and after her breakthrough, Alice had to get accustomed to skiing at this level. It took 5 years, and this season, she grew into a fantastic skier. The silver medal is well deserving, as her second run charge was in a different league.
Bronze went to America. Paula Molztan finally put two good runs together, kept her head calm, and held on to third place. Only medals count at the World Championships, but a fourth place of Thea Louis Stjernesund (NOR) is also worth mentioning.
Stories and Histories
The competition on Thursday also produced some interesting stories. For Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI), this was the last chance for the World Championships gold medal this year. As she only managed fifth, she could have been disappointed, but she took it as a champion. She said that she had made too many mistakes and had given all, but it was not enough. But to talk of disappointment? No, this is sports.
Many women were exceptionally nervous before the race up to extreme moments. Camille Rast (SUI) said that she was nervous and did not feel well, and then right before she was to start, her competitor Lara Colturi (ALB) vomited, perhaps out of bad nerves. This event threw Rast so out of concept that she finally finished eleventh. Lara Colturi, on the other hand, did not end so badly, as seventh place in the giant slalom was a good result for her. Sara Hector (SWE) was disappointed, as the softer surface did not suit her style. And the home crowd did not have a cause to celebrate this time, as the best of the Austrians, Katharina Liensberger, finished twelfth, with an astonishing 4,55-second gap on the leader.
Well, the most astonishing thing about this race was the extent to which the podium performance demolished the rest of the field. Federica Brignone had a 0,9-second gap on Alice Robinson, who had a 1,72-second gap on Paula Molztan. These two really smashed both runs.
