Sara Hector far in front for fifth World Cup victory
With an impressive lead of 1.52 seconds, Sara Hector wins the Giant Slalom in Jasna on Saturday for her fifth World Cup victory, all five in this discipline. Finishing in sixth place, Lara Gut-Behrami takes the lead in the Giant Slalom World Cup rankings. Anna Swenn-Larsson races to her first podium finish of the season with third place in the Slalom in Jasna on Sunday. In Kitzbühel, the HEAD Worldcup Rebels just miss the podium in both Downhill events with two fourth-place finishes.
"Sara Hector demonstrated how skiing really works on Saturday. The equipment was perfectly matched. Her service man Reinhard Berbig did a very good job. It was a brilliant result that was a feast for the eyes," explains HEAD Racing Director Rainer Salzgeber. "As a team, it was a great performance in both the Giant Slalom and the Slalom. It's great to see Anna Swenn-Larsson back on the podium again having got over her initial difficulties. Camille Rast skiing the fastest time was also great. With ski athletes like her and Dzenifera Germane, you can see that there is a new generation here, who make us very well positioned for the future. The men's team performance was also okay, but unfortunately we just missed out on the podium twice."
Sara Hector skis the fastest time on both runs
Nobody else managed to ski the icy slope on the Giant Slalom in Jasna quite like Sara Hector. On the first run, the Swedish athlete was already one second ahead of Mikaela Shiffrin, who was second. On the second run, the 31-year-old again stopped the clock with the fastest time. The last time anyone finished with a bigger lead in a Giant Slalom was her compatriot Anja Pärson 20 years ago at 1.98 seconds. For the 2022 Olympic Giant Slalom Champion, it was her fifth World Cup victory, the first since winning the Giant Slalom in Kronplatz in January 2022. "It feels fantastic, I'm so happy," said a delighted Sara Hector. "The slope was great, it was icy, but I still had plenty of grip. The way the course was set also suited me. I'm very proud of my result, I have great skis and I feel on top form."
Six HEAD Worldcup Rebels in the top ten
With Lara Gut-Behrami from Switzerland in sixth place, A J Hurt from the USA seventh, Ragnhild Mowinckel from Norway eighth, Camille Rast from Switzerland ninth and Kajsa Vickhoff Lie from Norway tenth, five more HEAD Worldcup Rebels finished in the top ten. Notching up 485 points, Lara Gut-Behrami now wears the red jersey in the Giant Slalom. For A J Hurt it was her best result so far in this discipline. In December, the 23-year-old finished ninth in Mont-Tremblant. Kajsa Vickhoff Lie's performance was sensational: the 25-year-old skied into the top ten in her debut World Cup Giant Slalom in Jasna with bib number 32. Elisa Platino from Italy in 15th place was also delighted with her best result in the World Cup to date.
Anna Swenn-Larsson returns to the podium
Anna Swenn-Larsson also had reason to celebrate in the Slalom Sunday. The Swedish athlete finished in third place to step up onto the podium for the first time this season. On the first run, the 32-year-old was in fifth place. Clocking the second-fastest time on run two sealed her podium finish for the first time since her third place in Aare in March 2023.
Camille Rast skies the fastest time on run two
With the best time on the second run, Camille Rast, who was seventh after the first run, equalled her best Slalom results to date in fourth place overall. Lena Dürr from Germany finished the Slalom in seventh place, Dzenifera Germane from Latvia was eighth and Sara Hector ninth. Dzenifera Germane once again confirmed her talent in this discipline in what is only her fifth World Cup race. After having to drop out in the premiere in Flachau last season, this season has seen the twenty-year-old finish 22nd in Lienz, 12th in Kranjska Gora, 8th in Flachau and again 8th in Jasna.
Just missing the podium on the Streif run in Kitbühel
In Kitzbühel, the HEAD Worldcup Rebels just missed podium finishes in both Downhill events on the Streif run. Ryan Cochran-Siegle from the USA was just one hundredth of a second away from the podium on Friday. Vincent Kriechmayr from Austria in seventh place and Justin Murisier from Switzerland finishing in eighth place saw two more HEAD athletes race into the top ten. 13th place went to Matthieu Bailet from France, while 14th and 15th place went to Dominik Schwaiger and Simon Jocher from Germany. On Saturday, Stefan Babinsky finished in fourth place to achieve his best result in a Downhill event so far. The Austrian athlete's only previous top-ten finish in this discipline was sixth place in Val Gardena in December. In the second Downhill event, Vincent Kriechmayr moved up to sixth place. Guglielmo Bosca from Italy finished in 13th place having started with bib number 41. In the Slalom on Sunday, Johannes Strolz finished in 15th place.
