Heavy falls, three premiere winners and a strong Lena Dürr from a German perspective characterize the Alpine ski racers’ end of the year.
Lena Dürr rushed to the finish area at the foot of the Magic Mountain to congratulate the winner, but she was also in a good mood. With a second place in the World Cup slalom in Semmering, Lower Austria, the Munich native achieved a conciliatory end to the year for the badly battered Alpine skiers of the German Ski Association (DSV). “I’m totally satisfied,” said Dürr on “ZDF” and added confidently: “I know that there is still a lot of room for improvement.”
However, Dürr was out of the question of a second victory in her special discipline on a weekend that was also marked by serious crashes in the men’s races in Bormio. The outstanding Croatian Zrinka Ljutic achieved the best time in both runs and celebrated her first victory in the World Cup with a huge lead of 1.75 seconds. “Zrinka was brutal,” said Dürr.
With her second second place this winter, Dürr moved up to second place in the overall slalom rankings. But she didn’t want to discuss the fight for the crystal ball or the World Cup next February. “Everything has to be right for the ball. I’m not even thinking about it.” The World Cup is still a long way away, said the third-place finisher in 2023. “Just enjoy today,” she said, next Saturday it’s already in Kranjska Gora continues.
Slalom stars Shiffrin and Vlhova are missing
Emma Aicher also presented herself very well after several failures. With a strong second run, the 20-year-old all-rounder placed eighth in the top ten for the seventh time. Jessica Hilzinger, 31st in the first run, missed the final by just a hundredth of a second. The day before, Federica Brignone from Italy won the giant slalom on the Zauberberg, where the injured Mikaela Shiffrin from the USA had dominated in recent years.
The World Cup races in Bormio, Italy, were also overshadowed by a serious crash on Sunday. Two days after the accident of the Frenchman Cyprien Sarrazin, who is now conscious again after an operation for a cerebral hemorrhage, veteran Gino Caviezel got it: The 33-year-old Swiss threaded into a directional gate, fell down the San Pietro jump and had to be rescued by helicopter.
“No pretty pictures,” said superstar Marco Odermatt on “ZDF” and added: “If you see this week and leave Bormio healthy, priority number one has already been fulfilled.” The Swiss overall World Cup winner took fifth place in the downhill and super-G, and there were surprise winners in both races: Odermatt’s teammate Alexis Monney in the downhill and Fredrik Möller from Norway each celebrated their first World Cup victory.
The German men’s best result in Bormio was achieved by Simon Jocher with a respectable 13th place in the downhill, while young runner Luis Vogt also did respectably in 21st place. However, Jocher suffered a severe bruise on his right heel bone during his ride and had to miss the Super-G. Investigations will determine how long he will be out in the coming days. The best German in the Super-G was Romed Baumann in 24th place.