Olympic champion Viktoria Rebensburg led a German 1-2 finish ahead of Kathrin Hoelzl at the season-opening women’s World Cup giant slalom on the Rettenbach glacier on Saturday.
Rebensburg finished in a combined time of 2 minutes, 26.39 seconds to beat giant slalom world champion Hoelzl, who led after the first run by 0.42 seconds.
It was Rebensburg’s first World Cup victory and only her second time on the podium after finishing second in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, in January.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“It’s incredible, I can’t believe this happened at the first race,” Rebensburg said. “It’s nice I could prove that the Olympics were not a coincidence.”
Hoelzl said she was disappointed about losing her lead.
“[I’m disappointed,] but I am happy for Vicky and it’s great the victory landed in our team,” Hoelzl said. “The race was very difficult, it just didn’t feel good skiing down there.”
Manuela Moelgg of Italy placed third, trailing Rebensburg by 0.86 seconds.
Maria Riesch, who shared second with Rebensburg after the opening run, finished fifth, while three-time overall champion Lindsey Vonn was 3.28 seconds back in 18th.
Kathrin Zettel of Austria, who reached the podium in Soelden in each of the past three years, finished seventh, and Julia Mancuso of the US was 12th, with a 2.86 second deficit.
“It wasn’t my best day,” Vonn said. “I was expecting a lot more.”
The American, who has never finished in the top three of a giant slalom race, said she was not hampered by nerves.
“No, I didn’t feel nervous, but I was just not skiing like myself. I was pretty conservative, not attacking,” Vonn said. “Especially on this course, it takes aggressive skiing. No one looks pretty out there, you really have to charge and throw yourself down there. I didn’t really do that today.”
Vonn said she was already looking forward to next month’s races in Aspen, Colorado.
“I am still confident for the season and I will look a lot better in Aspen for sure,” she said.
Vonn’s fellow American Mancuso, skiing in her first race after switching ski supplier, was glad with her start to the new World Cup campaign coming off two rather disappointing seasons.
“I had a few mistakes, but it was good ... I skied solid and it’s a good start,” former Olympic giant slalom champion Mancuso said. “The first run, I skied more conservative and the second I went for it more. I didn’t ski tactically smart [and] made a few big mistakes.”
Mancuso said she was happy with her new skis.
“They were really good, I felt comfortable, but I still need to find some more balance, we must still work on certain things,” she said.
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