In all the hustle and bustle that Lena Dürr already had behind and above all in front of her, she still found a moment of inner contemplation. After the award ceremony for the slalom in the finish area, she briefly stood all alone in front of a large yellow advertising board and looked up again at the slope, which was kind to her on this sunny Saturday at this Alpine World Ski Championships in Méribel where she won the long-awaited medal. Lena Dürr first had to “classify” third place, her first precious metal in an individual competition.
It’s her seventh World Championships, but for the first time Lena Dürr started knowing “to be able to compete for the medals”. At a major event for the second time, because she was also one of the favorites at the Olympic Games last year. As the fastest in the first round, she really fueled the hope of a medal in Beijing. But she missed the good starting position and dropped back to fourth. “Today is the day when I get my hundredths back from the Olympics last year,” said Lena Dürr now.
Dürr benefits from the loss of a competitor
One of her strengths in the autumn of her career is that she doesn’t let a setback unsettle her. Sure, she often thinks about this Olympic slalom race, she has said repeatedly in recent weeks, “but more with a positive feeling”. She remembers more that she led in Beijing after the first run than everything that happened afterwards. “I think I was able to learn a lot from the day”, especially how to deal with the role of favourite.
On Saturday, the first run “wasn’t what I imagined,” said the 31-year-old from SV Germering. “I’ve been lying on my shoe for a short time at the top”, where it was flatter and it felt like it went uphill at first. Under these conditions, one should not allow oneself to make any mistakes. “You notice immediately how the pace slows you down.” She was almost a second slower than the leader Mikaela Shiffrin from the United States, missing the podium by a good three tenths of a second. “We’ll be able to turn the tide a bit more,” she said.
The second run wasn’t quite perfect either, but she took the lead. “I knew there were still three runners up. That’s why I can’t be absolutely happy yet.” When Canadian Laurence St-Germain extended her lead over Dürr from the first round, “I saw myself fourth again”. Then came Wendy Holdener, who drove brilliantly but didn’t finish. Shortly before the finish, the Swiss dropped out. And Dürr had a medal.
It almost became silver because Mikaela Shiffrin gambled away her lead over St-Germain and in the end was only twelve hundredths faster than the German. The fact that she became world champion in St-Germain, who had never been better than sixth in the World Cup before, fits in with these title fights of surprises. “I have to cry now,” Dürr said when her teammates appeared behind her during the interview. Not only did her tears roll, Andreas Filser and Jessica Hilzinger were also touched. “After her development, Lena simply deserved to be at the front of a major event,” said Wolfgang Maier, sports director in the German Ski Association.
For Lena Dürr, this medal is the reward for her perseverance. She took a lot of detours on her long way, but, she said, “I had to accept that I ended up here.” Dürr made her first top ten place in a World Cup slalom in December 2011 , at the age of 20. At the time, she was considered a great talent that nurtured the hope of being able to follow in the footsteps of the great Maria Höfl-Riesch. But in the following ten years, Lena Dürr only finished twelve more times in the top ten in slalom, she was never better than fifth.
About the time almost four years ago, when she had to organize the pre-season herself, she still says that it shaped her. It was something of a turning point in her career. In this season and last, Dürr was among the top ten more often than in the previous ten years. And a total of eight times on the podium, including one at the top. Three weeks ago in Špindlerův Mlýn she had won her first World Cup in slalom. “Lena is not only a leader in terms of performance, but also in terms of her personality,” says sports director Maier.
