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Katharina Liensberger recorded her best slalom result in second. A long series ended in Zauberberg.
Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova were defeated and remain “only” second in slalom. But Katharina Liensberger held second place behind the first Swiss champion Michelle Gisin without reservation in Semmering. “It feels like a win,” said the 23-year-old from Vorarlberg beaming, giving the ÖSV women a good end to the year under the spotlight at the final race of 2020.
“It was a really cool race,” said perfectionist Liensberger with satisfaction after her prime in the decision. “I let go of my skis, pushed up and down, because in the end you had to give it your all,” he said after his fabulous run as the third since the last start in race two. After five third places, two of them most recently at Levi, he worked for the second place for the first time.
On a night when a long series came to an end, Liensberger nearly ended the ÖSV women’s six-year winless slalom (Nicole Hosp, November 2014 in Aspen). For the 10th time in a row, the Vorarlberg woman finished a World Cup slalom in the top 7.
The best slalom race?
However, it cannot be said if it was his best World Cup run so far. “I’ve had other races where some passages were really good,” Liensberger said. “So it is difficult to compare if he was the best, because there are always different slopes and circumstances,” he added. “In any case, it was the best race for me that I could have shown that night.”
Liensberger was also genuinely happy for the winner Gisin, who ended miserably long dry spells for her and Switzerland. “Michelle did a very good job. And the gap with her is not a world,” Liensberger made it clear that eleven hundredths meant a great distance to victory. “It is my best slalom result so far and I continue step by step. Now I am looking forward to Zagreb. The slope is great.” Last year he ranked third in the decision, which was also made under the spotlight.
It was not initially clear whether the Ski World Cup in the earthquake-shaken Croatian capital could take place in January as planned. “In any case, I would like to bring the good spirit of Semmering into the new year,” Liensberger hopes the positive trend will continue. Also apart from ski racing. “I really look forward to the end of Corona and a happy and friendly year in which everyone can be happy.”
Christian Mitter did not deny that Liensberger could even have won at the Semmeringer panoramic track, where he won his first World Cup points in 2016 and now his first second place. “I almost have mixed feelings. Kathi’s races were very good, but they also made small mistakes. Today we almost won,” said the ÖSV boss.
Strong team performance by ÖSV women
With places 2 (Liensberger), 6 (Katharina Truppe), 10 (Katharina Huber), 12 (Chiara Mair) and 26 (Katharina Gallhuber), the women of ÖSV slalom got another strong performance despite the failure of Franziska Gritsch who she was seventh at halftime at Semmering. Team result. “So despite everything, we can get off the track positively because we have a really good team. We are really on the right track in slalom,” Mitter said.
On the “half” giant slalom in Semmering, in contrast to the forward step of Courchevel, you took a “half” step back, but you are also heading in the right direction. “Unfortunately, we had this weekend ruined at Val d’Isere in terms of speed,” Mitter said, locating the problem area.
The big negative experiences in the ÖSV women’s team were, of course, the serious knee injuries of Nicole Schmidhofer and Bernadette Schild. “It’s very painful for everyone individually,” Mitter said. “We miss the team leaders with them. But mostly we miss them as teammates.”
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