Lena Dürr finished second in Andreja Slokar’s surprise success. The DSV racer is satisfied despite giving away the half-time lead again.
The first slalom victory didn’t work out again – but Lena Dürr was happy after the best World Cup result of her career. “Second place is a dream end to my season. There’s always someone there who’s a bit faster. But I’m still satisfied. That’s totally okay,” said the 30-year-old, beaming.
Rather, Dürr formulated a declaration of war: “I’m not giving up. I’ll attack next year. I hope that I can take the momentum with me. Victory is yet to come.”
At the World Cup final in Courchevel/Meribel, after leading again in the first run, she had her big goal in mind for the third time – this time, however, the Slovenian Andreja Slokar was completely surprising after a dream run by 0.48 seconds faster than Dürr. Petra Vlhova from Slovakia (+0.81) was third.
Even before the race, Vlhova was the winner of the small slalom crystal ball ahead of Mikaela Shiffrin (USA). After four podium places, Dürr finished third in the season standings. You’ve already “asked yourself what I’ve been doing for the last few years,” said Dürr. It was “very constant” this winter, when they “found many pieces of the puzzle that fit together”.
Dürr now wants to “take a breather first”
However, it was not enough for her debut victory in the slalom. Dürr had already led at the Olympic slalom in Beijing and last week in Are after the first round. She was fourth at the Olympics and fifth at Are. One World Cup victory is on their record so far: Dürr won a city event in Moscow in January 2013.
After a strenuous season, she will “take a breather now,” says Dürr. But the vacation has to wait. Next week she wants to start at the German championship. After that there are still ski tests on their program – to finally be at the top next winter.
Things didn’t go so well for Alexander Schmid in the men’s giant slalom final. The 27-year-old finished in a disappointing 18th place in the victory of Swiss dominator Marco Odermatt. “It wasn’t the final run I would have wished for. It wasn’t my day,” said Schmid, who was third this winter in Alta Badia, on ZDF.