Fenninger sashays to giant slalom win
Print Edition
Anna Fenninger of Austria used a flawless second run to win a women’s World Cup giant slalom yesterday in Lienz, Austria, for her fifth career victory.
Cheered on by a home crowd of 8,500, Fenninger was second after the first run but overtook leader Jessica Lindell-Vikarby of Sweden in the final leg to win in a combined time of 2 minutes, 17.00 seconds. Lindell-Vikarby was 0.50 seconds behind.
“My preparation was good but I didn’t believe I could win today,” said Fenninger, who has made 19 World Cup podiums over the past three seasons, trailing only Tina Maze (37) and Lindsey Vonn (23).
American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin was 0.51 back in third for her second podium finish in GS after finishing runner-up in Beaver Creek on December 1. Austria’s Kathrin Zettel was the only other racer to finish within a second of the lead, 0.96 behind.
Vonn skipped the race to rest her injured right knee ahead of the Sochi Olympics.
It’s the third year in a row Fenninger has won a World Cup race on December 28. She earned her first career victory here in 2011 and also won a GS in Semmering, Austria, last year.
“It’s funny that I’ve done again on the 28th,” Fenninger said. “I came here full of good memories and I tried to build on that feeling. I’ve learned a lot in recent years. I used to get distracted easily at races in Austria but now I use the home support as positive energy.”
Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein came 17th but kept her lead in the overall standings with 609 points. Fenninger reduced her deficit to just 12 points while Lara Gut of Switzerland, who failed to finish her first run, dropped to third with 568.
“The overall World Cup is not really an issue now, although people keep asking me about it,” Fenninger said.
The Schlossberg course was hard to master. The day before the race, course workers had to move 40 centimeters of fresh show out of the way. Freezing cold overnight made for a bumpy surface.
Many of the pre-race favorites struggled, with defending overall champion Maze coming in 15th and Olympic champion Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany finishing 24th on her return from a three-week break from the circuit due to health issues.
Shiffrin was fourth after the opening run to position herself well for a second-run attack.
“I felt like I skied pretty well,” the American said. “Normally I am pretty comfortable within half a second (off the lead). It’s always better to come down and feel like you separated yourself from everybody but as long as I am in this position I can really attack.”
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