Alpine Skiingwomen's world cup
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The pearl on Podkoren in Kranjska Gora (with best time in both heats!) launches the 26-year-old from Ontario into a new dimension: she immediately hits the mark on her first podium, but it's anything but a surprise. Vlhova, in the seventh top 3 this season without winning, will also be a very tough rival on Sunday (and will the redemption of Shiffrin and Gut-Behrami come?).
Saturday 7 January 2023 5 minutes reading time
A "certified" talent, so much so that insiders in the first place couldn't explain how, beyond a few injuries, Valérie Grenier hadn't yet climbed onto a World Cup podium.
Today that day has arrived and immediately with a bang, that is by winning one of the most difficult giants of the season, that of Kranjska Gora: it is no coincidence that the Canadian '96 class succeeded in the enterprise on the "Podkoren", where a year ago she conquered her best placement among the wide doors, fourth just behind Marta Bassino who she beat today in the fifth round of the specialty season.
Valérie had so far put together two top five in super-g, between Lake Louise and Cortina in the 2018/19 vintage, then after that 4th place in Slovenia, here is the 5th place in Semmering in the last week of 2022, but with the doubt of being able to do even better given that the day before she had been disqualified (due to the rule relating to respect for the starting times, with the Canadian staff who had admitted the athlete's mistake) at the end of the first heat, when she was already very close to that podium.
A historic triumph today in Kranjska Gora, given that Canada's women's national team had not triumphed in a giant World Cup for 49 years, when Kathy Kreiner prevailed in Pfronten, a couple of seasons before her Olympic triumph in Innsbruck ' '76.
"I have no words, I still can't believe it - all the amazement of the 26-year-old North American to the FIS microphones after the race - It's a dream come true, I've wanted it for so long...
I'm so happy also because it's a success shared with all the girls here with me, something unreal. Yes, I'm really proud of myself, I was feeling so good and so relaxed before the second moto, I couldn't wait to go…”.
If Marta Bassino has slipped the seventh consecutive podium in giant (two in the finale of last season, five in the current one), seven is also the number of top 3 in 2022/23 by Petra Vlhova, without winning. Thinking about it, it's truly incredible, even if the Slovak gives the impression of having lost a little something in the slalom, while in the giant slalom she is capable of super heats like today's second.
Sunday will be dangerous for everyone, like Lara Gut-Behrami, second in the middle of the race and fifth at the end, less than two tenths from Bassino's second place (from which she has to recover 83 points for the giant cup dream), and Mikaela Shiffrin, sixth behind the Ticino and perhaps with some toxins to dispose of, also because the commitment between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023 should not be underestimated, with lots of training dedicated to the slalom.
In a few hours, the new attempt to hook up with Lindsey Vonn.
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Giant slalom Female Kranjska Gora (SLO)
GRENIER Valérie
BASSINO Marta
VLHOVA Petra
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