[ad_1]
Liensberger’s bronze medal was due to a hussar ride and the best time in the final. The 23-year-old did not let herself be irritated by a mishap, so she was almost in the snow and was only able to avoid a fall thanks to an acrobatic insert, she continued to risk and finally stayed only 0.09 seconds behind the Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami She won her second Cortina gold medal ahead of American star Mikaela Shiffrin and was delighted. Liensberger, for his part, did not cry after the possible second gold medal.
I was happier for the bronze than for the world title two days ago at the premiere of the side competition. “This medal shines like gold,” said Liensberger, who finished fifth and sixth in Courchevel and achieved by far the best World Cup positions for ÖSV women this season. All the more surprising was the strong performance in the World Cup giant slalom, including that of Siebenhofers, which catapulted from 14th place to fifth with the third fastest running time in the second round and thus the best result of his career in a giant slalom.
Bronze for Liensberger in hundredths of a thriller
The giant slalom became the one-hundredth part of a thriller at the Cortina d’Ampezzo World Cup on Thursday. In the closest women’s World Cup RTL in history, parallel world champion Katharina Liensberger surprised with the bronze medal.
To the limit and even above it
“I don’t even know what to say, just great,” Liensberger said after their wild ride. “I just wanted to finish more, I was on the edge and even over the top. What became possible there was truly impossible. The whole universe and the stars must have helped me, ”said the Vorarlberg native. In the giant slalom in particular, he recently experienced most of the “ups and downs”. At Lienz in December 2019, he was on the World Cup podium for the only time so far in the giant slalom.
“It was a brutally difficult race and a good performance from both of us. First and third in the second race, that shows the mental quality. A good day, ”said ÖSV head coach Christian Mitter, who referred to the difficult snow conditions, from aggressive to icy and watery. “That demanded everything from the girls, physically and of course also tactically. They solved it well ”. The Styrian said of Liensberger: “Kathi works hard to get where she is. She learns quickly, implements it quickly, and then gets to the point. “
Mastered material problems
Before the giant slalom at the World Cup, Liensberger had many questions. “We notice that some things just don’t go together when I drive. Over and over it was great and over and over not at all. Before the World Cup, we didn’t know what it would be like, ”Liensberger said. I had no expectations for the serious problems in the giant slalom. The advantage of this was that he could drive freely. “I am very happy to have achieved it. I’m really happy. “
The giant slalom puzzle and problems were not easy for them to solve. Before the World Cup, the athlete from Rossignol received a new team and there was not much time for testing. “Everything went very well immediately. That was perfect, ”said Liensberger, who had previously won gold in the parallel competition on the same ski. His thanks went to his military man, who had taken care of the giant slalom skis in detail and thus contributed the best he could to the success. Liensberger did the rest impressively on the slopes, including an acute emergency situation in the final.
“That was borderline down there. I was already on the ground and I got up again and finished the race strong, ”said Liensberger. He had not been fooled. “I felt good, I was confident in my skills and my skiing so I was able to take a chance and push myself to the limit when it comes to the line. He knew he could get the most out of his swing. That is exactly what I wanted, to go 100 percent and not meet 80 percent. I am very happy and grateful to have been able to experience that. “
Full throttle in the second race
After race one, Liensberger (“I didn’t expect”) was fourth, 0.26 hundredths behind Shiffrin, and was already on the medal table. Even the advantage at halftime would have been within our grasp had it not been decisively lost as the fastest in the lowest and widest section (“It would have been more direct”), also because the route turned out to be “very long and exhausting at the final “. The foundations were laid for the second World Cup medal. All or nothing, it said in the decision. Success later proved him right.
“Where I left so much time in the first race, I took everything out in the second and finished well,” Liensberger said. At the top the snow was aggressive, at the bottom it was very fast due to the sunlight. “I picked up speed and was able to handle it well. It was fun getting top speed on every goal, ”said Liensberger, who wants to pick up the momentum in Saturday’s slalom. In her favorite discipline, she is considered a candidate for the hot medal, and her previous World Cup successes should give her the necessary peace of mind.
“You don’t have to hide”
Siebenhofer, for her part, was torn from her medal dreams in the first race: the 29-year-old lost 1.31 seconds on the route set by technology coach ÖSV Johannes Zöchling, although she started fast and went ahead in the upper part. before connecting lost with the fastest. “I attacked very little,” said the Styrian. In the attack of the second set, he revealed his potential. Stephanie Brunner, who returned this season after a knee injury and a 22-month break from racing, was eliminated in the final, Franziska Gritsch in race one. “I’m really disappointed, all the work was in vain,” Brunner said.
At Siebenhofer, you couldn’t speak of disappointment with third-fifth place at Cortina. “In the first race I got pulled out by a mistake. In the second I took all the risk and was able to do it. It felt really good, ”Siebenhofer said. “When I look at the season so far, I have to say that I can live with it. And the deficit after the first race was already too big for the front. With three fifth places in this World Cup, I don’t have to hide, although a medal, of course, would have been my goal. “
Gritsch behind expectations
For Gritsch, who had missed two and a half weeks of snow training before the World Cup due to a blow to the knee, Cortina was not worth the trip so far, despite having “good feeling about skiing” again. . The 23-year-old zip line tipped far behind and went off the track face down. Already after the truck, Gritsch was disappointed in the eleventh place and failed in the classification in the parallel competition. In general, that corresponded to his performances in the World Cup season: in giant slalom he was never over 14 years old. That was enough for the World Cup ticket.
“I have nothing to reproach myself, I have to cross it out quickly and I will take the positive things with me. There are still a few years waiting for me. The view is directed forward, “he said after the truck,” I did my best, “after losing in parallel qualifying. After the giant slalom, he said:” Little by little it’s getting frustrating for me. In the race I want it just does not work. But I will not be discouraged. In life, not always everything goes straight ”. Like Liensberger, he has another shot at slalom. Also in the squad: Katharina Huber and Chiara Mair.
