SLinus Straßer keeps his very own view of achievements and listings in the Alpine Ski World Cup even after the first World Cup slalom of the Alpine ski season. “It was about making peace with the slope,” explains the 30-year-old after swinging downhill in Val d’Isère.
And that, as one can say with a look at the complicated relationship between the Munich skier and the course on the Bellevarde slope, he managed reasonably well on Sunday. Straßer finished 13th, which is a personal best, having previously retired seven times out of nine attempts at Val d’Isère and only finished once in 2016, finishing 16th.
However, the fact that he spontaneously commented on his ride with a hearty swear word (“Sch…”) speaks against his satisfaction with a gap of 2.19 seconds. The Norwegian Lucas Braathen won the race easily ahead of the Austrian Manuel Feller (+0.84) and Loic Meillard (+0.98) from Switzerland.
Lena Dürr despondent again
Lena Dürr didn’t even appear to be satisfied when she had finished her performance in Sestrière (Italy). As in the previous races and at the Olympics, the woman from Munich lost courage in the second run after a good first slalom run.
Instead of attacking from fourth place, she slipped down to eighth place (+1.28). Victory again went to the Swiss Wendy Holdener. Second was US runner Mikaela Shiffrin (+0.47) ahead of Olympic champion Petra Vlhova (+0.70) from Slovakia.
