Image: GEPA pictures/Harald Steiner
Austria’s ski racers missed a conciliatory end to the Jasna weekend. Although four made it into the rankings after the giant slalom total failure, the ÖSV team once again had nothing to do with the top places in the stronger technical discipline of slalom. Katharina Huber ended up in eleventh place. Mikaela Shiffrin carved to her 95th World Cup victory, the 58th in the slalom, on the Slovakian ice in the absence of her injured long-term rival Petra Vlhova.
But Shiffrin had to fight hard for her third Jasna victory in a row. The 19-year-old Croatian Zrinka Ljutic was only 0.14 seconds behind the exceptional US athlete, who surpassed another record set by Ingemar Stenmark with her 82nd podium finish in a World Cup slalom. Anna Swenn Larsson from Sweden came third (+0.81).
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After Vlhova’s cruciate ligament and medial ligament tear, Shiffrin was quite sad at the start. “I love the battles with her,” said the American after her fifth win of the season in the eighth slalom. The 28-year-old can hardly take away her eighth little ball in the parade discipline alone. With three races still remaining, the lead over Lena Dürr is already 228 points.
No top positions for the ÖSV team
After Black Saturday, when no Austrian woman made it into the rankings in the giant slalom for the first time since 1985, Katharina Troup initially led the ÖSV team as eighth at halftime. The Carinthian woman was passed through to 16th place after a stayer.
Huber only came into the second round in 29th place, in which the Lower Austrian then used the early starting number to drive third fastest and thus gained 18 places. The material had been changed “quite a lot,” Huber admitted, completely throwing Plan A over the top. “Something more aggressive was needed,” Huber said on ORF.
Katharina Liensberger (24th) was unable to overcome her uncertainty. The Vorarlberg woman started quite defensively in both runs – and even fell behind Lisa Hörhager, who achieved her best World Cup result in 21st place. The 22-year-old had only scored once before.
The race was also disappointing for Katharina Gallhuber, Franziska Gritsch and Marie-Therese Sporer, who last showed in Flachau. The trio missed qualifying for the second round.
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