The Austrian Julia Scheib is racing to her next success. On the other hand, Robinson and Shiffrin, who are equally highly rated, are weak.
Magic Mountain is what they call the Ski World Cup slope in Semmering in Austria. And magic was the right keyword for the ski racers on Saturday at the giant slalom. In the first round in the morning, the mountain presented itself to the riders as pitch black and with some ribs not entirely flat; the organizers even used floodlights to help.
And in the second afternoon too, the Zauberberg wasn’t quite as clear and flat as other World Cup routes, “Rodeo” the Italian supervisor called the slope. In the end, someone who had competed here several times before came out on top: local hero Julia Scheib. “It was a brutal fight”said Scheib in the sports show. “I knew there was still something down the track and thank God I was able to use that to my advantage.”
Halftime leader Sara Hector ended up third
The Austrian also regained the World Cup lead in the giant slalom with a quick second run at home. At half time, the Swede Sara Hector was still leading with a mini lead of just 0.02 seconds over Scheib. In third place was the Italian Lara Colturi (+0.13 seconds), who competed for Albania and was eliminated in the second run.
The Swiss Camille Rast raced onto the podium in the final – from fifth place to second place (+0.14), with Hector coming third behind him (+0.40). In the second run she noticeably lacked the security of the first run; in the end, the difficult surface was the best for Schie und Rast.
Alice Robinson is eliminated – Mikaela Shiffrin only sixth this time
The conditions in Semmering also caused problems for the winter’s strongest giant slalom rider: Robinson took too many risks in the first run and was eliminated.
Mikaela Shiffrin (USA), record holder on the Zauberberg with seven victories, was also probably not satisfied with sixth place.
Dürr is convincing and gives hope for the night slalom on Sunday
Unlike the strongest German, by the way: Lena Dürr raced particularly sensitively down after finishing 14th in the second run. She went into the decision with a lead time of 1.76 seconds, and her tenth place is ultimately quite respectable. Accordingly, unlike after the first run, she cheered at the finish.
“It’s fun”she said in the sports show. “Even though it’s a real struggle for me in the giant slalom in such conditions, it’s a joy to be at the start.” The placement should also give Dürr a good feeling for Sunday: In the night slalom (live on Sportschau from 2:15 p.m.) she has the next chance of a top placement.
Fritz scores points for the first time in Semmering Alpine Ski World Cup
With an equally decent second run, Emma Aicher went from 23rd to 19th place. Behind the Austrian Nina Astner, who delivered the fastest second run, gained a total of 17 places and came twelfth.
The third German, Jana Fritz from TSG Reutlingen, collected World Cup points for the first time. The 20-year-old likes steep terrain and showed herself to be very quick and agile in her fourth World Cup appearance, racing to 24th place. “It couldn’t be going better”said Fritz with a smile in the Sportschau interview.