Rast Wins Killington Slalom For First World Cup Victory

In Slalom on Sunday, Camille Rast crowned a superb start to the season, having already finished fifth, third, and third, with her first World Cup victory. The Swiss athlete was in third place after the first run, and with the third-fastest time on the second run, she skied to the top of the podium.

"That is unbelievable. I didn't expect that it would go so fast. "I'm very pleased," said the 25-year-old at the finish. "Everything I have done over the summer is coming out now. I've been riding the bike less, focussing more on fitness, and everything works. My family, our coaches, and the whole team did a great job. There are couple of things that I would still like to optimise, and am excited about the next competitions."

The emerging Swiss racer won the Killington slalom on Sunday, completing her meteoric rise just seven days after her maiden World Cup podium in the Gurgl slalom and 24 hours after her first giant slalom top-three result.

Full of confidence after those two third-place finishes, the 25-year-old took advantage of an open field missing injured superstars Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) and Petra Vlhova (SVK) to register a breakthrough victory.

"It's really crazy, I don't know what to say," Rast said moments after her triumph.

Remarkably, Wendy Holdener (SUI) and Anna Swenn Larsson (SWE) tied for second place, two years after they shared a joint victory on the same slope.

While Holdener moved up from ninth after the first run, it was Rast who held her nerve best among the final group, going from third to first with a flawless second run that Swenn Larsson and halfway leader Lena Duerr (GER, fourth, 0.03s off the podium) could not match.

"Just do it for you and have fun and just do what you do and nothing else," Rast said about her approach to the second run, despite the nerves she must have felt.

"I had fun and I skied fast." said  Camille Rast. Did she ever. Starting with a lead of nearly a second over provisional leader Holdener, Rast took full advantage of a course set by Swiss coach Jorg Roten to ski into the lead by a commanding 0.57 seconds.

When the final podium was confirmed, it resulted in the first 1-2 for Switzerland in a women's World Cup slalom race in 28 years, since Sonja Nef and Marlies Oester did it in Sestriere in January 1996.

"Wendy just told me that we made history," Rast said. "I'm so proud of this team and we work all together really good."

But Holdener's role in that statistic seemed unlikely earlier in the day after she found herself over a second behind Duerr's leading pace after the first run.

"The first run was more difficult for me because with (bib) No. 2, you had no slices (ruts)," Holdener said. "And I like that I had some slices in the second run because I felt I had more grip and I had to push like crazy."

An inspired second run gave the 31-year-old a big lead, but when Rast overtook her, the veteran thought her chances were dashed for a first podium since her return from an ankle injury that cost her most of last season.

"I thought the other two (Swenn Larsson and Duerr) will ski in front as well, so when the other two had some mistakes and I got in second, it was a big relief," Holdener said.

It was Holdener's first podium since last year's Killington slalom, and the fact that she tied again with Swenn Larsson was not lost on the veteran Swede, who also reached her first podium of the season.

"It's something magical with this place," Swenn Larsson said about another tie with Holdener in Killington. "Now I was first (2022), second (2024) and third (2019) here, so I guess it's a favourite place for me."

It has quickly become a favourite place for Rast, too, whose brilliant performances in the Vermont resort this weekend have suddenly vaulted her into the lead in the slalom and overall standings five races into the season.

"It's just the beginning of the season and it's already going so good, and I hope to continue like this," she said.

As for Shiffrin's absence after her crash in Saturday's giant slalom, Rast said she felt she could have challenged for Sunday's victory even with the 99-time World Cup winner on the start list.

"In Gurgl she (Shiffrin) told me, 'You make me a bit stressed at the start,' and then I think why not try to push her one more time with the pressure in Killington?" Rast said.

"I hope she will be back soon and it will be a nice fight in the next races."