Clouds on the glacier, poor visibility on the slopes: This can even slow down the speed of the best ski racers. Mikaela Shiffrin, 29, missed out on victory at the start of the Alpine ski season on the Rettenbachferner near Sölden – it would have been success number 98 for the snow queen from the USA. In the second round of the giant slalom she slipped from first to fifth place. Federica Brignone, combined world champion from Italy, won by 0.17 seconds over Alice Robinson from New Zealand and the Austrian Julia Scheib. Lena Dürr was the best German and achieved an excellent tenth place.
It was an unexpected ray of hope for the German team. Because Lena Dürr, 33, from Germering is considered a proven slalom specialist – in the giant slalom, between the wider goals, she has only been better twice in her career. And that was a long time ago: 2011 as eighth in Aspen/USA and 2010 as ninth in Maribor in Slovenia. “It feels very good,” she said about her successful start, “I’m very, very happy.”
26-year-old Fabiana Dorigo from TSV 1860 Munich was the second German runner to win World Cup points in front of 16,000 spectators, for the first time in only the seventh World Cup race since February 2020: She had to qualify for the second run with the high start number 43, then she worked moved up from 30th place to 24th place. “I hope it continues like this,” she said. Only Emma Aicher missed the points.
Gut-Behrami decides not to – the risk is too high for her
What was notable that day on the glacier was the fact that the Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami decided not to race. Last winter’s overall World Cup winner withdrew from her start at short notice because she didn’t feel 100 percent ready. It was a “hard decision,” she said through tears.
Gut-Behrami, 33 years old, was considered the favorite to win alongside Shiffrin. She said she loves this slope, where she has already won three times in her career. And yet she withdrew shortly before the race. “You can’t compete if you can’t overcome yourself,” said Gut-Behrami. During the inspection she realized that she was not ready for the risk. She lacks self-confidence and security. The risk of possibly getting injured was too great for her. She is now hoping to compete in the next giant slalom in Killington at the end of November.
Gut-Behrami, 33, is an experienced athlete. She reported that she recently went through a “difficult month” in which she suffered from flu and knee problems. Last winter she won the overall World Cup as well as the discipline classifications in giant slalom and super-G.
