Slalom in Semmering – Gisin wins sensationally and ends almost 19 years of drought – sport

The podium

• 1. Michelle Gisin (SUI) 1: 42.05
• 2. Katharina Liensberger (AUT) +0.11
• 3. Mikaela Shiffrin (United States) +0.57

What a day for Michelle Gisin! Exactly 8 years after her World Cup debut in Semmering, Engelberg’s wife celebrates her first World Cup victory in this very Semmering.

Thanks to a very strong second race, Gisin was able to overtake the unleashed Katharina Liensberger for second in the first race. Gisin turned a temporary deficit in the midsection by 11 hundredths of an advantage. Halftime leader Mikaela Shiffrin could not attack Gisin or Liensberger’s maximum time and was third.

With his triumph, Gisin ends a drought of almost 19 years. The 27-year-old is the first Swiss woman since spring 2002 to win a slalom. The last time Marlies Oester accomplished this feat was on January 20, 2002 in Berchtesgaden.

The other Swiss women

• 5. Wendy Holdener +1.43
• 20. Mélanie Meillard +3.68

Wendy Holdener also pulled off another good slalom performance. The Schwyzerin showed two solid runs and finished the race in 5th place. In the second round, Holdener couldn’t improve in rank. The leader of the Swiss slalom team will have to wait for her first podium this season. Holdener finished fourth in both of Levi’s slaloms.

As in the first of Levi’s two slalom, Mélanie Meillard got into the second heat. In this, the 22-year-old took 5 places and finally came in 20.

So it goes

The Semmering slalom was the last women’s race of 2020. The first stop of the new year is Zagreb. Two more slaloms are scheduled in the Croatian capital on January 3rd and 6th.

The speed specialists will continue a little later in St. Anton, Austria, where the weekend of 9/10. One descent and one Super-G each take place in January.