Shortly before the World Cup, things are not only going well for Mikaela Shiffrin, but also for the currently best German slalom skier: Lena Dürr had already gained a lot of self-confidence with second place behind Shiffrin on Saturday. Also at the second competition in Spindlermühle on Sunday, she confidently maneuvered through the course and for the first time overtook the noble technician Shiffrin. Zrinca Ljutic also caused a surprise.
Lena Dürr achieved the first slalom success of her career at the World Cup dress rehearsal in Spindlermühle, Czech Republic. The otherwise best woman between the poles didn’t show any weaknesses and drew her line perfectly over the slope twice, but with a total time of 1:30.91 minutes Dürr was six hundredths faster this time. Shiffrin’s 86th World Cup success, with which she can match Ingemar Stenmark’s all-time record, still has to wait.
Dürr begins to catch up
Dürr was the closest to the ski ends of the 27-year-old all-rounder in the first run. She was 0.67 seconds short of the American. The 31-year-old attacked in the final round and conjured up a creamy run in the snow, putting high-flyer Shiffrin under pressure. She didn’t make any mistakes, but overall she was six hundredths slower than the German and had to settle for second place.
Ljutic new star in the slalom sky
The next surprise had already begun with Zrinca Ljutic. The 19-year-old Croatian stormed through the bars and finished third behind Dürr with good prospects for the final. She also drove unconcerned in the decision to the first World Cup podium.
Vlhova misses top ten
With Petra Vlhova, for a long time one of Shiffrin’s toughest competitors between the bars, things didn’t go quite so well. With three penalties, she missed decisive tenths of a second in the first run and had to conjure up a perfect second run in the snow to at least get a taste of the podium. However, the Slovakian was far from that. It was only 13th place.
Hilzinger, Aicher and Filser in the final
Jessica Hilzinger and Emma Aicher from the DSV quartet showed that they too can do top 20 with their teammate’s success. Aicher ended up 14th, Hilzinger 21st. Andrea Filser, on the other hand, had slipped into the second round in 30th place and ended it in 29th place.
