Lena Dürr and Killington – it’s probably not going to be a great friendship anymore. At the World Cup slalom on the “Superstar” slope in the USA, the German was on course for a podium for a long time, but missed the top three again.
Lena Dürr narrowly missed her third podium finish in a row in the World Cup slalom. The 32-year-old ski racer finished just fourth in the eastern United States on Sunday (November 26th, 2023). The third place in the Slalom World Championships was only 0.19 seconds short of the podium. At halftime in Killington she was still in second place.
90th World Cup victory for Shiffrin
US superstar Mikaela Shiffrin, who celebrated her fifth World Cup victory and her 90th World Cup victory overall, drove to victory in front of her home crowd in Killington. Petra Vlhova from Slovakia (+ 0.33 seconds) and Wendy Holdener from Switzerland (+ 1.37 seconds) came in second and third place.
Shiffrin counters Vlhova
Shiffrin was already ahead after the first round. In the first run, however, she didn’t get the perfect line in the upper part. Lena Dürr beat Shiffrin by 0.25 seconds. Shiffrin took the lead with a strong run on the lower slope.
In the second round there was a showdown between third-placed Petra Vlohva and Shiffrin. Vlhova challenged Shiffrin with a fabulous run. But Shiffrin, who started with a lead of 0.28 seconds over Vlhova, countered coldly. “It’s unbelievable here. So wonderful to drive in front of the home fans. It gave me extra intensity”cheered the 28-year-old two-time Olympic champion. “I hope I was able to put on a good show.”
Dürr loses third place on the steep slope
Dürr was unable to intervene in the fight for the podium. The two-time World Cup winner started the race with start number 1 in the first round and ran a courageous race. Dürr, who recently came second and third in the slaloms in Levi, was only 0.19 seconds behind leader Shiffrin. However, Shoffrin and Dürr were joined by Vlhova, Holdener and the Croatian Leona Popovic within just 0.5 seconds.
In the second run, the German drove for a long time on course for the podium. However, uncleanliness on the lower steep slope cost them third place. In the last few meters she fell from third place to fourth place.
Dürr in Killington last year 28.
Dürr still has a score to settle with the Killington slope – last season, after finishing sixth in the first round, it fell back to 28th place. Two years ago, the German finished fifth, narrowly missing the podium. She also missed the podium in the previous years since her first start in Killington in 2016.
Hilzinger, Filser and Lipp miss the final
Jessica Hilzinger, Andrea Filser, Elina Lipp and Emma Aicher only had one run in the largest ski resort in the eastern United States – the four Germans clearly missed the final of the top 30. Hilzinger and Filser drove too timidly. Hilzinger finished 40th with start number 22 (+ 3.33 seconds), Filser came 43rd with start number 31 (+ 3.57 seconds). The 21-year-old Lipp had no chance of making it into the top 30 with the high starting number 62 and came 48th (+ 4.1 seconds).
Emma Aicher was eliminated after a driving error on the lower steep final slope. Until then, the 20-year-old was still doing very well in the race in 15th place.
Albanian prodigy Colturi turns 25.
Lara Colturi from Albania and the French Marion Chevrier proved that you can get into the top 30 even with high starting numbers. Starting 57th and 59th, they finished 24th and 30th in the first round. In the final, Chevrier improved to 23rd place, while the Albanian-Italian 17-year-old prodigy Colturi finished 25th.