2024-03-02 18:05:52
Skier Ester Ledecká finished tied for fourth in the World Cup super-giant slalom in Kvitfjell, Norway, recording her best result since returning from a collarbone injury.
The Olympic champion in this discipline from PyeongChang 2018 ran an identical time with Germany’s Kira Weidle, 16 hundredths of a second separated her from the podium. The winner was the Swiss Lara Gutová-Behramiová, to whom Ledecká lost 29 hundredths.
“I am very happy with the ride. I enjoyed it a lot. I know I say this very often, but this time I really enjoyed it,” said Ledecká in a recording for the media.
She also praised the organizers for the prepared track. “It snowed, it was foggy, it rained for two days, but they put the piste together. Hats off. I also have to thank my whole team. They all did a perfect job. I still have a lot to work on, but I’d say it’s moving now in the right direction,” she added.
The 28-year-old Ledecká achieved the best result of the season, surpassing eighth place in the super-giant slalom in Crans Montana. She was also on the podium for the last time in this Swiss resort. In February 2022, she finished second in the congress there.
“It’s a great result and especially the ride was good. I’m glad that the loss to first place is getting smaller and smaller and we’re always moving forward,” said Ledecká.
The super-giant slalom in Kvitfjell was run instead of the originally planned downhill. The pre-race trainings, which are necessary to pass the discipline, were not run in the past days due to poor visibility.
The three-time Olympic champion Ledecká took to the track with starting number 3. She was particularly successful in the second half of the track and reached the finish line in the fastest time of 1:33.81 up to that time. She was one second and 54 hundredths ahead of the second French Laura Gauche.
“It was my very first ride on this slope. I was kind of expecting to be able to see it in the training runs on the downhill, but in the end they canceled both of our training sessions, because of that we rode the super-G today and I went for it. I hope. that I will take something from that ride until tomorrow. I have some reserves there. We will analyze it with the team, I will look at the video and we will tell ourselves where I could speed up even more,” said the Czech competitor.
Ledecka’s successful performance was later also evidenced by the times of the rivals. Even the Italian Federica Brignone, who lost two hundredths of a second, did not unseat the Czech representative.
The first competitor to beat Ledecká was the later winner, Gutová-Behramiová. In the end, Austrians Cornelia Hütterová and third Mirjam Puchnerová got ahead of the native from Prague.
The German Weidleová with starting number 20 later equaled Ledecká in fourth place.
Gutová-Behramiová, the leading woman in the overall standings of the WC and the discipline, claimed her eighth victory of the season and 45th overall in the World Cup. She beat the second Hütterová by 12 hundredths of a second.
The second super giant slalom in Kvitfjell is scheduled for Sunday.
SP race in downhill skiing in Kvitfjell (Norway):
Women – Super Giant Slalom: 1. Gutová-Behramiová (Switzerland) 1:33.52, 2. Hütterová -0.12, 3. Puchnerová (both from Austria) -0.13, 4. Ledecka (Czech Republic) and Weidle (Germany) both -0.29, 6. Brignone (It.) -0.31.
Super giant slalom standings (after 7 out of 10 races): 1. Gutová-Behramiová 460, 2. Hütterová 435, 3. Brignonová 366, 4. Venierová (Austria) 290, 5. Puchnerová 258, 6. Goggiaová (It.) 237, …13. Ledecka 127.
Current order of the SP (after 32 out of 41 races): 1. Gutová-Behramiová 1514, 2. Shiffrinová (USA) 1209, 3. Brignonová 1168, 4. Vlhová (SR) 802, 5. Goggiaová 792, 6. Hectorová (Swedish) 780, …38. Ledecka 190, 71. Dubovska 73, 115. Jelínková (both Czech Republic) 9.