Third win of the season in Giant Slalom for Sara Hector. Again today she was super consistent and extremely aggressive, and despite a big mistake in the middle section, she was able to edge Petra Vlhova by 0.15 seconds, who had set the best time in the first run.
At the start of the season, Hector had to be content with 12th place in Sölden, but since then she has always made it onto the podium in the Giant Slalom. Sara Hector recorded a second and a first place in the World Cup Giant Slaloms in Courchevel, the third place in Lienz, and the first place in Kranjska Gora.
The 29-year-old was on the podium in the World Cup eight times, all in Giant Slalom.
She leads the Giant Slalom standings with 462 points, 95 points ahead of Tessa Worley, and 101 of Mikaela Shiffrin. Petra Vlhova is now fourth 131 points behind Hector.
"It's incredible. I was surprised because I also made a mistake on the second run. I didn't think I'd won when I crossed the finish line, but it's so cool. I really struggled with every gate to pick up speed. That was good. I've always had power, now I ride with a bit more feeling. I was a bit nervous again, I have a lot of emotions", said Hector.
Petra Vlhova finished in second place. It's her third podium in Giant Slalom this season.
She finished in the top five in five of six women's World Cup Giant Slalom events (3rd, 4th, 5th, 2nd, and 2nd). She only missed a Top-5 in Kranjska Gora where she finished in 15th position.
After leading the first run, Vlhova was still clearly ahead in the two first partials but lost the line entering the shady lower part and thus her first win of the season in Giant Slalom. “For me the last part in the shade was difficult, I tried to keep my momentum. Second place is good, but I could and wanted to be first. Sara skiing was great, so I'm happy with the second place too", said the Slovakian.
After today's second-place Vlhova is now second (1009 points) in the Overall standings, only 17 points behind leader Mikaela Shiffrin (1026).
Tessa Worley finished in third place, +0.52 seconds behind Hector. Worley has claimed 35 World Cup podiums in the Giant Slalom. Among women, only Schneider (46), Anita Wachter (45) have collected more.
At her 5th start in the Erta racecourse, the French made it onto the podium for the 4th time (2nd in 2017 and 2019, 1st in 2021, and third in 2022).
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