Yanqing (AP) – Disappointed, Lena Dürr sat in the snow, wiped tears from her eyes and quickly put her ski goggles back on. Despite her lead after the first run at the Beijing Winter Olympics, the German ski racer narrowly missed out on a medal in the slalom.
The 30-year-old slipped back to fourth place after the second run. In the end she was only 0.07 seconds behind the bronze winner Wendy Holdener from Switzerland.
“Now it really hurts, it’s just bitter,” said Dürr in a first reaction on ZDF. A little later she seemed a little calmer and said: “It was so incredibly close, that annoys me the most now. When it’s clear and you’re really far away from them, it’s easier to process.” Gold went to Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova, who was eighth after the first round. Katharina Liensberger from Austria won silver. Dürr was 19 hundredths of a second behind Vlhova. Emma Aicher as the second German starter came in 18th.
Consolation from the Olympic champion
US superstar Mikaela Shiffrin experienced the next debacle and, after her early exit in giant slalom, also retired from the first run of the slalom. Dürr missed the fourth Olympic victory of a German slalom skier after Rosi Mittermaier (1976), Hilde Gerg (1998) and Maria Höfl-Riesch (2010), which seemed within reach after the first round. “It’s almost a bit the maximum penalty, Lena drove a great race,” said Gerg as a ZDF expert.
Olympic champion Vlhova hugged Dürr for a long time and Holdener also comforted her defeated competitor: “I’m sorry.” Memories were awakened of the Winter Games four years ago, when Viktoria Rebensburg also only just missed out on the bronze medal in the giant slalom.
Dürr had already taken three third places in the course of this World Cup winter. “It was a dream to drive, a pleasure,” she said after the first run of the slalom, in which she set the fastest time with start number one.
Shiffrin debacle
The day also ended in disappointment for Shiffrin. “It’s not the end of the world,” she said after her elimination after just a few goals in the first heat. “But I think I have to question a lot now.” With her head hanging and an incredulous expression, the 26-year-old sat next to the track for a few minutes before she went to the interviews.
Within just three days, the long-time alpine dominator in Yanqing has already missed two big chances for a medal. She probably still has the biggest one in the combination. She announced that she would try to press the reset button again. “Maybe I’ll do better this time,” she said. Even if you don’t know exactly how. Shiffrin, normal constancy in person, does not know such situations. “Of course there’s a lot of pressure, but that wasn’t the biggest issue today,” she said. “I wanted to take the most aggressive line,” she analyzed her short run. Maybe she overdid it with her attack. “I started with a strong mentality – then I was out,” she said. “It’s disappointing.”