Sara Hector Wins Kronplatz GS

Sara Hector (SWE) has collected three Giant Slalom victories in the last four races, five podiums in a row in 35 days and a red bib with a 95 point margin over the Tessa Worley (FRA).

The French Champion finished third in today's race, and she showed once again her great skiing and perseverance, making her achieve incredible results. Petra Vlhova (SVK) is also smiling. She has meticulously prepared this race and showed, beyond the advantage accumulated with bib number 1 in the opening run. The Slovakian has not yet broken free in terms of seasonal victories in this discipline. Still, now she finds herself only 17 points behind Mikaela Shiffrin (USA), today's in fifth, in an overall ranking that sees her in the running for an encore.

Petra Vlhova was first out in Kronplatz and set a time that was hard to beat. Closest to her in the first run was Sara Hector. With a small miss and an otherwise stable and aggressive ride, the Swede was only 34 percent behind Vlhova in the finish and put Mikaela Shiffrin, Marta Bassino and Maryna Gasienica-Daniel behind in the results list.

Tessa Worley, eight after the first run, was strong in the second and took a convincing lead. Chasing Federica Brignone had 12 hundredths to go against Worley but could not cope with the Frenchwoman and it looked better for Worley the more who came to the finish. The Polish Gasienica-Daniel did not pass, nor did Bassino or Shiffrin, who had several misses in his second run.

Then it was time for Hector. She extended her lead from the first run to the beginning, lost a little against leading Worley, increased it again and despite a real miss in the end, she took over the lead from the Frenchwoman with over half a second in goal.

It was a brilliant Hector who went into the goal with a guaranteed podium place. The only threat to the win was Petra Vlhova. But the Slovak lost all its lead to the first half and then went even with Hector but the Swede was faster in goal and beat Vlhova by 15 hundredths. That meant Swedish at the top, before Vlhova and Worley.

"I was surprised when I went to the finish because I thought I had failed at it. It was crazy that I was so fast in the finish despite the miss. says Hector to FIS, who still thinks she is not impossible to beat this season. "It's incredible to cross the finish line again and see the green light. I pushed hard, made a mistake, and told myself that I shouldn't have done it, but today was a battle, and you have to fight. Am I unbeatable? Not at all, the opponents are powerful, and every race is tough. I try to do my best, like today in the second run, which was very complicated".

Mikaela Shiffrin led three Americans into the top 20 with fifth in the giant slalom on the challenging Erta slope in Kronplatz, Italy in the final FIS Ski World Cup women's tech race prior to Beijing 2022. Nina O'Brien was back in the top 15, landing in 15th, while teammate Paula Moltzan was 17th.

Following the race, Shiffrin reflected on her performance, "Unfortunately today’s race may have been a very big decider in the GS globe. But I suppose that “race” is not over yet so I’ll keep pushing," she said. "Now we fully shift focus to the Olympics. It’s been quite stressful and tiring these last weeks trying to get everything prepped for the trip to Beijing, with so much more to do than previous Games in the time of Covid and different travel logistics than we’ve dealt with before, plus trying to do get it all sorted while on the road as foreigners in Europe since November. I’m looking forward to getting there safely—fingers crossed—and to finally be passed the 'organizational & prep' part of the process, and on to the actual skiing part of it."

Shiffrin continues to lead in the overall standings, with 1,026 points to Vlhova's 1,009. In the giant slalom standings, Hector extended her lead to 462 points, while Worley moved to second ahead of Shiffrin with 367, followed by Shiffrin in third with 361.

AJ Hurt also started for the Americans, but narrowly missed qualification first run. Allie Resnick, who started in her first World Cup giant slalom race, did not finish first run. The women's tech crew will take a few days off before heading to Beijing to compete in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.