Image: (APA/AFP/Vladimir Simicek)
On the icy slope on Saturday, the very best were already separated by seconds, only Mikaela Shiffrin (+1.00 seconds) and Alice Robinson (+1.05) kept up with the Swede. For the thousands of Slovak fans, the festival started with a big setback. Petra Vlhova was eliminated after 15 seconds of driving and was transported away in the Akia.
The Austrians found it particularly difficult on the surface, which made it difficult to coordinate the material perfectly, and on a course that turned sharply. Only Ricarda Haaser (12th/+3.92) remained less than five (!) seconds behind after 50 starters. Elisa Mörzinger (+5.49), Julia Scheib (+5.70), Franziska Gritsch (+5.82), Elisabeth Kappaurer (+6.01) and Katharina Liensberger (+6.22) missed qualifying for second place Passage (1 p.m.). They alternated emotionally between disbelief and anger.
“Just slipped from the first goal”
“If you see 5.70 seconds behind at the finish, what else can you say? But the deficit doesn’t surprise me because I just slid away from the first gate, I had no grip,” said the completely exhausted Scheib. Hector, on the other hand, said: “I think the slope is great, it’s icy, but nice with grip.”
For Shiffrin, the matter was a question of trust. “I think with this unique surface you have to feel 100 percent safe. If you don’t feel that, you lose a lot of time.” This is also why Haaser was able to keep up to some extent. “I knew that when it was icy, my material would fit perfectly. It would ride and I could trust it. The only thing I need to do better is drive the ski down.”
Thousands of Slovakians made a pilgrimage to the route to see their ski idol. But the high spirits were suddenly dampened. Vlhova was eliminated early in the first Alpine World Cup race in her country in almost three years. There was initially no further information about a possible injury.
The discipline leader Federica Brignone also retired early. Ex-runner Nicole Hosp also didn’t see the finish during her tracking shot, and the Tyrolean was subsequently missing from ORF as a co-commentator. She was said to have pain in her knee.
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