Alpine Skiingwomen's world cup
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In Kranjska Gora, in her 100th slalom in the World Cup ("I didn't even know!"), The Swiss took the 29th podium between the narrow poles without a win. Shiffrin, dry after four years without exits in his discipline, prepares the redemption on the night of Schladming.
Sunday 9 January 2022 4 minutes reading time
A warrior who was able to immediately go upstream, making her debut in Levi in still critical conditions, despite a double fracture to both scaphoids when the pre-season was over.
Wendy Holdener is always there, fighting for years at the top of the slalom, and it is truly incredible that she has not yet won in this discipline. Today could be the right time again, but Petra Vlhova's practically perfect 2nd heat canceled the dreams of the Swiss who, who started last in the duel on Kranjska Gora's Podkoren, gave up for 23 cents to the Slovak owner of the specialty . And so, podium number 29 between the narrow poles, on the day of his 100th slalom in CdM, with 14 second places and 15 thirds, without any success.
The last victory remains that of the combined Lenzerheide at the end of January 2018, just before the PyeongChang Olympics where, coincidentally, Wendy was silver a breath away from Frida Hansdotter (winning however gold in the team event and adding a bronze in combined). “On the steep I made one mistake too many - admitted the red-cross champion to the SRF microphones - but in general I can only be happy with my race. I really gave it my all, it wasn't enough to win. The 100th slalom? I didn't even know ... ".
Lenzerheide 2018 also means the last race weekend in which Mikaela Shiffrin had not finished a slalom. Here, the fact was repeated today, 4 years later, with the fork in the final of a second heat that saw the stars and stripes champion in full brawl with Vlhova and Holdener for success. A "zero" that weighs a lot, given that it is added to the not very brilliant giant of yesterday (7th place), but above all to the forced absence due to Covid in the two technical races of Lienz, for the fight for the absolute World Cup.
The leader always remains Mikaela, but if Vlhova is only 35 points and will have a calendar similar to the US, the main danger for Shiffrin's poker could come from Sofia Goggia, at -209 and with many cards to play in speed, with four consecutive weekends (one after the Olympics) between Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Cortina, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Crans-Montana.
A beautiful challenge that will restart from Austria, where on Tuesday evening Shiffrin and Vlhova will play a slalom again, the last one before the Beijing Games, in the unique context of the Schladming Planai. With the 4-time specialty champion (the first time on that track, in the 2013 World Championship), she is pondering her revenge ...
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