Tina Maze avenged the bitter disappointment of wasting her first chance on home snow the day before when she outclassed the rest of the field in a World Cup slalom on Sunday.
Beaten by 0.08 seconds by American Lindsey Vonn in Saturday’s giant slalom, the Slovenian set the record straight to snatch her first slalom of the season in a combined time of 1 minute, 33.68 seconds.
Determined to do well at home in her greatest season by far, the runaway World Cup leader dominated both legs to the delight of the 15,000 fans at the finish and bagged her seventh victory of the season.
Photo: AFP
“This victory certainly is a season highlight for me, there is nothing more emotional than to win in front of your home crowd,” the 29-year-old told reporters. “I felt angry yesterday, yet I have the feeling that this gave me that extra bit of energy that I needed to prevail today. I badly wanted to win that slalom.”
Maze, on course to smash the symbolic 2,000 points mark in the overall World Cup standings, has won races in four of the five alpine skiing disciplines this season and is now only one podium short of the record number of medal spots in one season, with 17 top three places.
“I’m always focusing on the next race, like Moscow next week, but I surely hope to keep that form to get more podium finishes and also to ski well at the worlds in Schladming,” she said.
“It’s for sure a great goal for me to have a great time and win some medals there, but I have already reached much more than I ever expected this season,” Maze told reporters.
Sweden’s Frida Hansdotter collected her fourth runner-up spot of the season, 0.86 behind Maze, but refused to feel any frustration.
“Tina was impressive again, she skied amazingly fast, she beat me nearly by a full second so there is nothing to be sorry about,” she said. “It’s nice to be on the podium again. I know my day will come, maybe in Schladming, who knows?”
Austria’s Kathrin Zettel was third, 1.13 seconds adrift.
SSC Napoli will have to wait one more week to seal the Serie A title after on Sunday being held to a goalless draw at Parma, while closest rivals Inter drew 2-2 in a dramatic game with SS Lazio. Antonio Conte’s team stayed one point ahead of Inter and were unfortunate not to win after twice striking the woodwork through Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Matteo Politano, while Scott McTominay also had a free-kick tipped onto the crossbar. The away side thought they would be handed a chance to take the points from the penalty spot in the 96th minute when David Neres
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike on Thursday helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win over local rivals RCD Espanyol, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the UEFA Champions League title escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2022-2023. Back then,
Jannik Sinner on Thursday marched into the semi-finals of the Italian Open after destroying Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, while Coco Gauff won a marathon three-set battle with China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the women’s singles final. American Gauff is to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in today’s title match after pulling through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that lasted over three-and-a-half hours. Ruud was supposed to be Sinner’s toughest test in Rome since he came back from his three-month doping ban, as the Norwegian came into the match in hot form on clay after winning in
Omar Marmoush’s stunning long-range strike on Tuesday upstaged Kevin de Bruyne on the Manchester City great’s Etihad farewell. Marmoush let fly from about 30m to put City ahead in their 3-1 win against AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League. The victory moved Pep Guardiola’s team up to third in the standings and left qualification for the UEFA Champions League in their own hands heading into the last round of the season. “It’s really important. To be in the Champions League after what happened [this season] will be really nice,” the City manager said. De Bruyne was making his final home appearance for City before
RSS