long had Wendy Holdener have to wait for their first slalom victory in the World Cup. After her first full success two weeks ago in Killington, the Swiss immediately followed up with another victory on Sunday in Sestriere. On Saturday was allowed Sara Hector in the giant slalom in Sestriere in second place and a podium finish.
“Wendy Holdener looks like the button has finally clicked. That was very convincing for these difficult conditions,” emphasizes the HEAD racing manager Rainer Salzgeber. “The conditions were completely different from those in Killington and Levi. I think that we are now really well positioned with the material coordination and the ski model. If you feel comfortable on the ski, you can step on the gas. It was close even in Levi, which gave them confidence and shows that we’re on the right track. Sara Hector also had a great race on Saturday. Unfortunately she had the small mistake in front of the area in the second run, otherwise it would have gone out. The conditions were really challenging, even more difficult than in slalom. It has shown that it works everywhere, we can build on that. With the men you could see that we are not lacking much at the moment. Atle Lie McGrath made it very solid. For him, it’s about getting into the top 15, then it’ll be a lot easier. Alexis Pinturault also showed a great performance. Looking back on the past season, that was a really good step forward. And that the young South Tyrolean Tobias Kastlunger with starting number 67 in the top ten is something very special these days. I’m really happy about that.”
Wendy Holdener takes the lead in the slalom world cup
Wendy Holdener was second in the second round. With a brilliant second run with the second best time, the 29-year-old achieved her second slalom victory in a row – 47 hundredths of a second before Mikaela Shiffrin. After four slalom races this season, Holdener has taken the lead in the discipline World Cup with 325 points, tied with Shiffrin. The Swede also ended up in the top ten Anna Swenn-Larsson as sixth and the German Lena Durr as eighth.
Second podium of the season for Sara Hector
In the giant slalom on Saturday in Sestriere, Sara Hector finished second overall with the best time in the second run. The Swede was sixth after the first round. In the first giant slalom of the season in Killington, the 30-year-old also finished third on the podium. The Swiss was seventh Lara Gut-Behramiwho won the first race in this discipline in Killington. Ragnhild Mowinckel from Norway was ninth, Wendy Holdener tenth, Elisabeth Kappaurer from Austria 14. and Coralia Frasse Sombet from France 15. Kappaurer started with number 46. After rank 28 in round one, the Austrian made up 14 places with fourth best time in round two. Kappaurer got World Cup points for the first time in four years.
Atle Lie McGrath just missed the podium
Atle Lie McGrath missed third place by just three hundredths of a second in the men’s giant slalom in Val d’Isere on Saturday. After second place in the giant slalom in Alta Badia in 2020, it was the second-best result for the 22-year-old Norwegian in this discipline. Alexander Schmid from Germany, third after the first round, was sixth overall. Alexis Pinturault of France was eleventh. The Frenchman finished fifth in Sunday’s slalom in his home race. A sensational performance delivered in this race Tobias Kastlunger away. The Italian started the race with number 67 and qualified 26th for the second run, in which he finished tenth with the second-best time and thus scored World Cup points for the first time. Behind the 23-year-old was Albert Popov from Bulgaria eleventh.
Press release:
Christian Hengge
HEAD Sport GmbH
Head of Marketing Wintersports