Sara Hector Claims Courchevel GS Win
Sara Hector is in great shape and obviously thrives in French Courchevel. After second place yesterday, she was the fastest of all and thus took her second World Cup win in her career. Hector confirms her good performance the day before, by winning for the first time on the slopes of the Emile Allais stadium, a race mastered from start to finish by the Swedish skier who had the best time of the first run and the third of the second run . It had been seven years since Sara Hector had returned to the top step of the podium.
In Wednesday's giant slalom, the second in as many days, Hector took the lead in the first run 11 hundredths ahead of the Frenchwoman Tessa Worley and 34 before Shiffrin. Marta Bassino, Italy, finished fourth ahead of the second race.
"It's amazing, it's just incredible, I'm so surprised too! It was such a big fight today, I didn't think I was so fast, it feels so awesome," the Swede told FIS after the race."I made it! It's crazy, I'm so proud, it feels awesome."
"It was difficult, said Ragnhild Mowinckel", Norway, when she finished in the second run.
She was not alone in thinking so. The hill in Courchevel offered a tough challenge to say the least. But it seems to suit Sara Hector who finished second in Tuesday's competition behind Mikaela Shiffrin, USA. And on Wednesday, she showed that she is in top shape for the upcoming Olympics.
Mikaela Shiffrin entered the second run with a full effort to improve her position. And it paid off when she came in second before Marta Bassino. She was threatened from behind by Tessa Worley but Worley's ride was not as efficient and she came in third behind Shiffrin and Bassino. Then only Hector was left.
Sara Hector had 34 hundredths to go on and lost a bit against Shiffrin against others in the meantime. But she came back and crossed the finish line with a green sign and a 35 percent lead. Thus, Sara Hector took her second straight world podium and the second victory of her career. The latest came in 2014 in Kuehtai. It was a happy Hector to say the least who met FIS after the award ceremony.
The snow was rough and bumpy on the Emile Allais slope, named after the famous French skier, which caused a few back spasms for Shiffrin on first run. But she gritted it out to third place and did some dry needling and physical therapy for second run to put the pain at bay. And it worked—she came out swinging and put down an aggressive and fast second run to move her up to second place.
Shiffrin was open about battling fatigue throughout the race series. The beginning of her season has been packed with events—Courchevel was her 13th World Cup start this season and her third race in four days. “No more energy!” she laughed. “Even yesterday after the first run, I was like ‘Oh my gosh, I have to do this three more times?’ Today was a big physical challenge and it’s also mentally tough too…I knew it was going to be like that after the last weeks, but it’s always a little bit surprising when you get to this point and you feel just totally gassed.”
But Shiffrin knew that she is stronger this season than she’s been before and that she’s skiing close to her potential. She’s had eight podiums over those 13 starts and to pull off another while being this exhausted was remarkable. “To have four runs the last two days that were a lot of really good skiing—today there was some scrappy skiing as well—but even coming close of what I’m able to do was really special,” she added.
After finishing 28th first run and only just qualifying for a second run, Moltzan threw down an unbelievable second run to move up to 13th place. Her second run was the second fastest, beating even Hector and Shiffrin by a few tenths. It was her best giant slalom finish since she first scored points in the 2020-21 season in Soelden, Austria.
AJ Hurt qualified for a second run—finishing an impressive 19th first run—but got late and crashed out of the course. Nina O’Brien did not finish first run. Both are OK. Katie Hensien did not qualify for second run.
The U.S. Alpine Ski Team leads the giant slalom and slalom FIS Nations Cups for the first time since 1983—an unbelievable feat showing a new depth on this tech team.
Shiffrin also maintains the lead of the overall World Cup of 115 points over Italian Sofia Goggia, who did not finish first run.
Despite a superb first round, France's Tessa Worley finished at the foot of the podium, but she left Courchevel full of confidence for the rest of the season after two good performances.
This 13th World Cup in Courchevel ends as it started, in the sun in front of a radiant audience, happy to have been able to once again encourage the queens of the discipline.
