Reigning Olympic giant slalom champion Sara Hector (SWE) rediscovered her mojo on Saturday, finding two inspired runs down the challenging, icy slopes in Killington, USA to grab a first Audi FIS World Cup win of the season.
But even in the winning moment the Swede’s attention was elsewhere, after Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) crashed badly with a record 100th World Cup victory in her grasp. The hometown hero had produced a typically brilliant first run to lead and had the clock in her favour when she went down on her inside ski on a left-footed turn and crashed into the safety netting.
The victor summed up the mood among the 17,000-strong Thanksgiving weekend crowd, and indeed around the world.
Shiffrin would no doubt be the first to insist on the focus being on Hector plus Croatian Zrinka Ljutic (+0.54 seconds) and Switzerland’s Camille Rast (+1.05 second) – both of whom claimed their first-ever World Cup GS podium finishes.
Right from the start gate on run one Hector looked like a different athlete to the skier who had opened up the season with a 15th (in GS in Sölden), a 19th and an eighth (in slalom in Levi and Gurgl respectively.
“I am so extremely happy because I had a little period where I doubted myself at the beginning of this season,” Hector revealed. “I had a period where I was not skiing good in training, and I really had to work a lot mentally. The last weeks I would say have been roller-coaster.”
After being the only skier to get within half-a-second of Shiffrin in the morning run, Hector started her afternoon effort knowing she had to throw it all down in order to put the pressure on the greatest of all time.
The 32-year-old did just that, risking it all the early section before using her experience to feather through the tough banana turn that caught out many in the mid-section. The burners then came back on in the latter part, as Hector produced the quickest second run of all to put that famous Swedish smile back in place.
“I am so proud of myself, it’s amazing. I just tried to really enjoy it, have fun. I wanted to remember that I really love to do this,” she said. “It’s really, really cool to get to feel these emotions again.”
It was all new emotions for her fellow podium finishers. Both have been rising rapidly up the rankings, with Rast making her dash primarily this season, while Ljutic, despite only being 20, has been making her mark in the snow for a fair bit longer.
But while the Croat grabbed three slalom second places last season to confirm her status as the tour’s rising star, this was by far her best effort on GS skis. And it came on the back of a electrifying second run during which she was bounced around in the gloom, almost thrown out of her skis in a cross-rut and yet somehow kept her speed.
“I usually feel really good on this icy snow and in my head I tried to connect even more in the second run,” Ljutic said. “I felt like in the first run I did some good sections but I could have connected more.
“I did feel good (in the second run) but I didn’t really know how good it was.”
It was good enough to be the second quickest time of the afternoon, which catapulted her above Rast – a skier who is loving life right now.
Rast, like many, was saddened by what happened after her second run.
“I was down (in the finish area), looking at Mikaela and (thinking) ‘OK, fourth place again and it’s fine in GS’,” Rast said. “I hope she is hurt not so bad, but it doesn’t look good. I hope she will be back soon.”
Despite the shock of seeing Shiffrin go down, there was plenty for the passionate crowd to cheer. Home skiers Paula Moltzan and Nina O’Brien produced equally wild, seat-of-the-pants rides to get the fans hollering as they grabbed season-best finishes of fifth and sixth.
Katie Hensien continued her strong start to the season after a long-term injury, ending 13th. While Elisabeth Bocock will never forget 30th November 2024. The 19-year-old, who had failed to finish a World Cup second run in her previous five attempts, flew to eighth after run one and just about held it together to end the day 23rd.
Slovenia’s Neja Dvornik was also hugely impressive in grabbing her best ever World Cup result of seventh, from bib 30, while Thea Louise Stjernesund (NOR) cemented another good day with a fourth-place effort.
It was not such happy tidings for Federica Brignone. The Italian, who was on a three GS World Cup-winning streak, complained of “not feeling connected” in a run one effort that left her adrift in seventh. And it got worse in run two with the Italian crossing skis halfway down and failing to finish.
Lara Gut-Behrami, a two-time winner in Killington, also had a difficult day. She ended up 13th in her first race of the season after sitting out the opener in Sölden last month due to injury.
The women’s slalom racers will be back out in Killington on Sunday.
