Marta Bassino wins the Super-G at the Ski World Championships in Méribel ahead of Mikaela Shiffrin. Four medals will be awarded in this discipline for the first time.
It was the fine ski feeling that was important in this women’s Super-G on Wednesday (February 08, 2023) at the Alpine Ski World Championships in France, that quickly became clear. The Super-G is one of the two speed disciplines, but at World Championships and Olympic Games technicians often come to the top, because there is always a need for finesse and the courses are more curvy than in the World Cup.
Bassino catches up with (almost) everyone on the way down
Marta Bassino sped through these curves best. The Italian was eliminated on Monday in the combination. In the first split she was already far behind after 24 seconds, almost in last place. On the way down, however, she left everyone behind with a furious ride. “It’s a bit flat at the beginning, I’m not that good at it,” she explained on ZDF. “But then I really focused on the right line, especially on my skiing. The difference today, I think, was the attitude: I wanted to ski well in every area.”
After Federica Brignone’s combination gold on Monday, it is Italy’s second World Cup gold streak in Courchevel/Méribel. Bassino won ahead of Mikaela Shiffrin from the USA and Cornelia Hütter (Austria) as well as the surprisingly strong Kajsa Vickhoff Lie (Norway). The latter both won bronze.
“Happy” Shiffrin prevents drama like in Beijing
Shiffrin was one of the people who was still far ahead at the top. But little by little she lost crucial hundredths of a second. At the finish she was 0.11 seconds behind Bassino in wonderful conditions under the French sun – which was enough for silver.
That was good news for Shiffrin, after she was eliminated in the combination, she was threatened with a disaster similar to that at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, when she arrived home as a favorite in all disciplines and went home without a medal. “I come down and see I’m second. You have no idea how happy I am about that,” she said. This time the burden of having to get a medal was already lifted in race two, more medal opportunities will follow in the next few days.
Surprisingly strong Vickhoff Lie and Hütter provide a novelty
Hütter and Lie behind them, who finished just as quickly, made for the next very impressive World Cup story (+ 0.33 seconds). Therefore, for the first time, four medals will be awarded in the Super-G. Both skiers receive bronze. This was not to be expected for the 24-year-old Lie, who has only climbed onto a World Cup podium twice.
Germany’s top skier Kira Weidle, on the other hand, was not so strong. She actually planned to surprise herself for this race, but then, as she said, touched a stone after just 20 seconds of skiing and ruined the edges of her skis.
Drove a weaker Super-G: Kira Weidle
Weidle is angry about “insane bad luck”
“Insane bad luck was in play today,” she said on the sports show microphone at the finish. In the end, 1.81 seconds behind, she didn’t even make it into the top 20 at her World Championship debut on the Roc de Fer in Méribel. In the finish area, she shook her head. Unlike those on the podium, however, she is also a stronger downhiller – and less of a technician.
The same applies to the downhill dominator and Bassino teammate Sofia Goggia, who was just eleventh. The second German Emma Aicher was 18.