RTL in Kranjska Gora

Giant slalom in Kranjska Gora from 9.30 am LIVE

Julia Scheib

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

Strong catch-up race by Julia Scheib! The Austrian skier narrowly missed the podium in the second RTL run in Kranjska Gora. Sweden's Sara Hector put on an impressive show of strength and took a commanding victory in the end.

Julia Scheib laments an apparent lack of recipe for ice slopes. Despite all the trouble, the Styrian only just missed out on her second podium of the season in fourth place (+1.86 sec.) in the giant slalom in Kranjska Gora on Saturday. The "Golden Fox" was won in superior style by Swedish ice lover Sara Hector. She came out on top ahead of Albania's future hope Lara Colturi (+1.42) and New Zealand's Alice Robinson (+1.52).

After a weak first run, Scheib put in another strong run. In between, she criticized the preparation. "We've had two training days on ice (so far) - that's just not enough. We have to train more, especially I have to train more," Scheib explained on ORF after the first run, which she finished in 13th place (+2.23). Even after the advance thanks to the best run time, it was clear to her: "I had problems finding grip and tried to make up for it in a brutal way. Ice is still a construction site. You have to train properly and a lot."

Here is the result:

Her words are less likely to have gone down well in the federation. "We prepared for exactly these kinds of conditions - hard, sometimes icy - and trained sensationally on the Reiteralm," explained Christian Perner, the ÖSV giant slalom coach. "We didn't get the performance right." Scheib also had to miss some sessions due to illness, but his recent training performance had been good. "Today they had the pig paralysis inside again," said Perner in the interval interview. He was, by his own admission, "pissed off". "There are no more excuses, it's up to each athlete to perform."

Julia Scheib

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

Tinkering with the ice recipe
Scheib, who came third in Sölden, had come to Slovenia with confidence thanks to her best time in the Semmering final, albeit in completely different conditions. The ÖSV women had explained during the Semmering World Cup that there was a need to catch up in slippery conditions. The tenor: there were no opportunities to practise on such conditions before. After a "Tetschn" (Roland Assinger) in Killington, the team returned from North America alarmed. Testing and tinkering took place, and head coach Assinger announced optimistically: "We have now found ways of knowing what we need to strap on in future."

However, the steep Vitranc in Podkoren - also known for men's spring races - was very slippery. Established Austrians such as Katharina Huber (39th), Franziska Gritsch (40th) and Katharina Liensberger (46th) gritted their teeth at the 30-meter hurdle in the first run. The top Italian skiers Federica Brignone (retirement) and Marta Bassino (42nd) and Canada's Valerie Grenier (38th) also failed early on. The only ray of hope was 20-year-old Victoria Olivier, who scored points for the first time in her third World Cup appearance in 29th place. Ricarda Haaser came 14th, Stephanie Brunner finished the penultimate giant slalom before the World Championships in 17th place.

Sara Hector

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

Hector continues to be the ice queen
Hector proved her brilliance on ice and extended her huge half-time lead (1.13) on the way to her seventh World Cup victory. Beaming with joy, the new leader (296 points) said: "I enjoy it when it's icy. It was great to ski." In the fourth giant slalom of the season, Hector, who lives in Bregenzerwald, stood on the podium for the third time and collected "big points" in the bullet race, as two-time winner Federica Brignone (200) was eliminated for the second time