Katharina Truppe (AUT/ Voelkl) secured her first win in an FIS World Cup race on Sunday, putting in a storming second run to top the pile in Are.
It has been a long time coming for the 29-year-old Austrian, who moved from sixth to first place in challenging conditions – and then watched as the best skiers on the circuit, including Mikaela Shiffrin (USA/Atomic), failed to better her time.
Katharina Liensberger (AUT/Rossignol) executed a tidy second run to seize second place, keep her bid for the Slalom Crystal Globe alive, and make it a great day for Austria, following a somewhat disappointing World Championships for the nation, a fis-ski.com report said.
Shiffrin, meanwhile, came third to stand on her 156th career World Cup podium – a new outright record for any skier, surpassing Ingmar Stenmark’s total of 155. The USA racer was delighted with an aggressive performance in the kind of conditions she doesn’t usually favour.
Truppe Takes The Spoils
Truppe has had a solid Slalom career – previous making it onto a podium four times, always in third place, and regularly making top tens.
In Sweden, however, she showed a newfound confidence, perhaps inspired by a brilliant performance at the recent World Championships in Saalbach, where her Slalom run helped secure the bronze medal for Austria in the Team Combined.
She was controlled but attacking on the second run of a lifetime, in worsening conditions that had favoured those earlier out of the gate.
Liensberger, Lena Dürr (GER/Head) and Shiffrin, who led after run one, could not match her, as she waited in agony to see if her time would hold. It did.
“I’m a little bit speechless because I was just so nervous at the start, but I was much more nervous when I was sitting in the red chair,” said Truppe.
“It’s just wow. When it was fixed that I was on the podium I thought ‘oh God, yes’. But my first victory, it’s crazy, I have goosebumps on my body. It is unbelievable.
“I didn’t expect it this season because it is not easy for me to go on Slalom and find some lines and some spirit. But today was the day.
“It was a tough race. It was not easy, especially because the light was not so good, and the slope, but I was fighting.
“I will enjoy it and will soak up all this emotion. Salbaach was so crazy and now the first victory, it is beautiful.
“My season was not so easy, I had really hard races, but I don’t want to give up, and now I am standing here.”
Liensberger Pushes Race For Slalom Crystal Globe To The wire
Liensberger also looked comfortable in the tricky conditions, skiing from fifth to second place with a solid run on a course she is a big fan of.
It was her third Slalom podium of the season, and won her vital points in the tussle for the Slalom title. With leader Zrinka Ljutic (CRO/Atomic) finishing tenth to end the day on 515 total points, and Camille Rast (SUI/Head) finishing 11th to wind up with 474, Liensberger is now third with 464 points – and one race to go.
“I had to push to give it all, through the finish line,” she said. “I tried to put all my energy into this course, and second place is amazing.
It was really tough. In the first run it was a really good track, easy to ski so you had to push. In the second run, it was really difficult. I’m really happy now.”
Another Weekend, Another Milestone For Shiffrin
Victory 101 wasn’t to be for Shiffrin on Sunday, and she admits she is losing track of the more niche records she is now breaking.
“There are so many discussions about different numbers” she said – but the American is now the athlete with the most World Cup podiums in history.
She was proud of how she went about the job, on a rutted and increasingly foggy course. “I feel pretty good about it,” said Shiffrin.
“In challenging conditions you have to be so perfect, and it can be really hard to ski loose and aggressive when you have no room for errors.
“I’ll watch the video later but I imagine both of the Katis did an amazing job, and I feel pretty proud that I was pushing.
“I wasn’t always perfect but when I think back on past years, I always lost a lot more time than that. So yeah, it’s actually pretty OK.
“This was kind of the best skiing I’ve done in these conditions, [and it is] more points, points that I need.”
Shiffrin now heads to her homeland looking to shut out a legendary season in style.
“Somehow we have to get to the USA, but there are some travel challenges, we’re going to try and find some training in Europe, then work our way to the US,” she said.
“There is one more race this season. I’m looking forward to it.”
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