After Veronika Aigner had to miss the title fights in Lillehammer in 2022 because of an injury, the two-time Paralympics winner from Beijing was unbeatable this time. The 19-year-old, with her sister Elisabeth as a guide, set the best time in both rounds, 5.23 seconds ahead of Britain’s Menna Fitzpatrick, for the first time the world championship crown. Sister Barbara, accompanied by Klara Sykora, took bronze, 7.21 seconds back. Elina Stary was sixth (+ 8.12 seconds) also in the top field.
“I’m very happy that we managed to pull it off so well in the end. The first run wasn’t quite as good as the second. It’s very nice that we sisters are on the podium together,” said the new world champion in giant slalom. Barbara Aigner secured her medal with a strong second round after fourth place at half time: “I knew that the second round could suit me well, so I used my technique to the full. It’s cool that it turned out the way Klara and I hoped.”
Fourth medal for Johannes Aigner
In the men’s category, Johannes Aigner celebrated his fourth medal in Espot. The 17-year-old, already world champion in combined and downhill and silver medalist in Super-G, was only beaten by Giacomo Bertagnolli in the giant slalom. In the end, Aigner and his guide Matteo Fleischmann were 1.05 seconds behind the Italian. Bronze went to Neil Simpson of Great Britain (+1.28). Michael Scharnagel, who was third in the descent, ended up sixth this time (+ 13.3 seconds).
“Basically, the performance today was very good. The first round was great, I didn’t do badly in the second either. Bertagnolli just did an amazing run, congratulations to him,” said Aigner, who has another chance of winning a medal at the end of the slalom on Saturday. And it should shine in the same color as last year in Lillehammer: “The day after tomorrow, Matteo and I will tackle the gold again in the slalom.”
Salcher and Co. get nothing
However, there were no medals for the standing men. Markus Salcher, World Champion in Super-G and Downhill, ended up fifth this time as the best Austrian. Nico Pajantschitsch just missed out on the top ten in twelfth place, Manuel Rachbauer finished the race in 24th place and Thomas Grochar retired. Frenchman Arthur Bauchet secured gold ahead of Swiss Theo Gmür and Federico Pelizzari.
After four disciplines, the ÖSV team in Espot has already won nine medals: five gold, two silver and two bronze. The men’s (Saturday) and women’s (Sunday) slaloms conclude the title fights. The parallel event was canceled due to the unpredictable weather at the start of the World Cup.