The Austrian wins the giant slalom in Sölden with a commanding lead. The best German is Lena Dürr in 14th place.
New season, new winner: Austrian ski racer Julia Scheib has won the first World Cup race of her career at the season opener in Sölden. The 27-year-old, who placed third last year, finished the traditional giant slalom on the Rettenbach glacier with a commanding lead of 0.58 seconds ahead of World Championship third-place finisher Paula Moltzan (USA) and 1.11 seconds ahead of former world champion Lara Gut-Behrami (Switzerland).
The best of the four German starters in front of a record Sölden crowd of 15,900 ski fans was Lena Dürr, who finished 14th, 2.24 seconds behind Scheib. Emma Aicher placed 28th (+4.07). Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) finished fourth, just missing the podium. The World Cup record winner was competing in only her fourth giant slalom since her serious fall about eleven months ago and appeared highly satisfied with her season opener.
The German women missed the goal set by DSV sports director Wolfgang Maier for the weekend: one placement in the top ten and one in the top twenty. “A start has been made, but there is still room for improvement,” said Dürr, who visibly struggled with the treacherous steep slope on the Rettenbach glacier in poor visibility and dropped two places in the final run, in an interview with ZDF.
All-rounder Aicher also had problems on the steep slope, as expected, in her weakest of four disciplines, where she lost considerable time. From 25th place after the first run, she dropped three more positions. “I still have work to do in the giant slalom,” said the 21-year-old, who had achieved the only two German World Cup wins last winter.
As expected, last year’s winner Federica Brignone from Italy was not competing. The dominant skier of the previous season, who had won World Championship gold in giant slalom as well as the overall, downhill, and giant slalom World Cup titles, is fighting for her comeback. She suffered a cruciate ligament tear and a fibula fracture, among other injuries, in a fall during the Italian championships in April.