44 days after her fall on the descent in Cortina d’Ampezzo and the knee injury she suffered, Shiffrin seamlessly continued her previous slalom performances. Thanks to the interim tour, the 28-year-old is about to win her eighth crystal globe in the Slalom World Cup. Her last remaining competitor, the German Lena Dürr, is currently in fourth place (0.28). With a gap of 188 points, Dürr would still have to win the race and Shiffrin wouldn’t have to get past 19th place to win the ball.
“This is very special. I’m very happy that I can drive again this season. The conditions are ideal for the comeback, I’m enjoying it a lot. The knee held up very well. The big difference is that I’ve only had four slalom training sessions in the last seven weeks. There is still a bit of energy and strength missing. But it was a good run, I attacked,” explained Shiffrin, who has already won five slaloms this season, in an ORF interview.
damen-slalom in aare
Standing after the first round
Three ÖSV women in the top ten
Despite Katharina Troupe’s failure, the ÖSV women showed a united team and brought three runners into the top ten. It is questionable whether a podium finish will still work. Huber’s gap to Ljutic is already 0.58 seconds. Immediately behind the Lower Austrian was her closer compatriot Katharina Gallhuber (0.78). Katharina Liensberger is in eighth place with the Swede Anna Swenn-Larsson (0.96).
For Huber, the second round is all about the best World Cup placement of her career. Sixth place in the slalom in Lienz at the end of December was the highest emotion for the 28-year-old. “I’m definitely satisfied. I came off strong at the top. But a little more would have been possible. It is now important to find a good middle ground. Maybe the second pass will have a little more radius. But that shouldn’t hurt me,” explained Huber.
Huber’s first run
Above all, Katharina Huber succeeds in driving up to the first intermediate time as desired. In the second half of the race she lost over half a second.
Liensberger was medically cleared after her fall in the giant slalom, which gave her a headache and a bruised hip on Saturday. “Sometimes there were turns where I was able to push. But I didn’t quite go through with it. I have a few bruises, but I don’t think it affected me much. It was more mental because I knew I had to push myself to the limit. But now I know that everything is possible and that I can attack fully in the second run,” said the 26-year-old from Vorarlberg.
