Tessa Worley outclassed the seemingly invincible Germans to win a giant slalom on her favorite slope in Aspen on Saturday to confirm France’s superb start to the season.
Having claimed her maiden World Cup victory on the same course two years ago, the 21-year old daughter of an Australian father beat Olympic champion Vicktoria Rebensburg and world champion Kathrin Hoelzl, but it was the closest of calls.
Rebensburg, winner of the season opener in Soelden, finished 0.01 seconds behind Worley, while Hoelzl was a further hundredth of a second behind.
PHOTO: AFP
“I guess the hundredths were on my side today,” said Worley, who also won a giant slalom in Are, Sweden, last season.
The petite Frenchwoman from Le Grand Bornand was only eighth after the morning run, but in the second she took advantage of her keen knowledge of the course to overtake her rivals.
France, who failed to win a medal at the Olympics, are fighting back in the early season — Jean-Baptiste Grange won the opening men’s slalom, while teammate Cyprien Richard was leading the season opener in Soelden, Germany, a month ago before it was canceled for lack of visibility.
In yesterday’s slalom on the same piste, Sandrine Aubert could also shine for her country.
Overall, World Cup defending champion Lindsey Vonn did not have such a great start in her bid for a fourth consecutive crystal globe.
Both her jinx in the giant slalom, the only event in which she has yet to make a podium, or in Aspen, a resort that has never brought her luck, continued as she was unable to complete the first run.
Vonn admitted she always struggles with so many technical events at the start of the season and would be relieved next weekend when the women’s World Cup moves to Lake Louise, Alberta, for the first speed events.
MEN’S WORLD CUP
REUTERS, LAKE LOUISE, ALBERTA
Michael Walchhofer opened his final season in style on Saturday in Lake Louise, Alberta, when he became the oldest winner of a World Cup downhill.
The 35-year-old Austrian is not the oldest skier to win a World Cup race, a feat achieved by Luxembourg’s Marco Buechel at 36 years and three months in a Super-G in 2008.
However, Walchhofer, who will be 36 in April, is now the oldest man crowned in the sport’s most demanding discipline, a record he looks quite capable of bettering in the months ahead.
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