Austrian Marlies Schild claimed her 26th World Cup victory when she claimed the slalom title on Wednesday.
Schild completed the two runs, the second held under floodlights, in a combined total of 1 minute 42.06 seconds, 0.32 seconds ahead of Germany’s Maria Riesch.
Riesch, a double Olympic champion in the slalom and combined, had rebounded from a disappointing 17th in the first run with a trail-blazing 51.20 seconds in the second to put her in pole.
PHOTO: AFP
However, Schild, starting last with a 2.40-second difference, delighted her adoring home fans by keeping her cool and triumphing over Riesch.
“I turned in a really good first run, but it was tough on the second,” Schild said.
“In the end I won and that was what counts. I knew starting off on the second run that Maria was in the lead and had a couple of seconds in hand.”
“After that first run I was really disappointed to have made a big mistake. After that I really dug in and the effort I put in made things go like a dream,” she said.
Another German, Christina Geiger, completed the podium, a further 0.20 seconds adrift of the Austrian’s pace.
Riesch’s second place, following a similar finish in Tuesday’s giant slalom, saw her consolidate her lead atop the overall World Cup standings.
The German has now amassed 738 points, with American Lindsey Vonn second on 617.
In the slalom standings, Schild leads after four of ten events with 300 points ahead of Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen (250) and Riesch (240).
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set