Schild wins the mother of all night slaloms
First the pendulum of fate swung one way then the other and with all the connotations of “when was the last time something happened” finally Marlies Schild popped up with a devastatingly smooth, fast and a killer of a run. This turned the screw on the remaining racers and allowed her to take her second win of the season. The story of the night looked to be the dominance of the Austrian trained German Team: After the first run, the team trained by Matthias Berthold and Christian Schwaiger (both ex GB team coaches incidentally) held the top two spots and had seven in the thirty (plus places 31 and 32!) First run results count for nothing as Schwaiger pointed out between runs and it was the Austrians that partied into the night taking first and third with Maria Riesch separating Schild and Zettel.
The Riesch sisters were a class apart from the rest of the field after the first run. Susanne lead big sister Maria by twelve hundredths with Kathrin Zettel al most a second behind. With over eight thousand locals and holiday makers as well as ski fans crowded into Hermann Maier’s home town, this was a great advert for ski racing – even if it was the girls racing!
The second run saw the party really get going. Niki Hosp, watching in the finish area, admitted to pangs of hurt watching but having started to train again, it will not be long before she is back mixing it with the rest of the top slalom racers. While the Germans stole the first run, it was the French that made the most of starting the second run off: Anemone Marmotten, Claire Dautheries and Tessa Worley put in three great runs and with 15 racers down the three were still holding control of the podium. While the slope had been injected, it was firm but not super hard. Racers needed to really attack the course but still remain smooth: Too many racers lost time on the middle steeper section as they over attacked and were too hard on their edges. Tactical skiing was so important.
With six to go, the Germans had wrestled control of the podium from the French with Katharina Duerr edging out Fanny Chmelar. Then came Tanja Poutiainen. Knowing that she had to attack if she was to put pressure on the German dominance at the top of the pack, the Finnish star extended her lead over those in the finish. She had the lead at the bottom but with Schild, Zahrobska, Zettel and the Riesch sisters to come; would the half second be enough?
Schild immediately set about showing what the world has been missing since her injury last season. This was a classic attacking ski racing. Schild made Poutiainen’s run look almost pedestrian and with the crowd baying for her to go even faster, she duly responded through the middle section. When she crossed the line, the crescendo of noise was deafening. Schild had not been happy with her first run that had left her in fifth place, she felt it had been “too straight” and that the second run had been much more to her liking. With four still to go, Schild could now see what the rest could do. Schild admitted that she enjoyed the night race scenario as it gave a great atmosphere she admitted after the race.
Sarka Zahrobska failed to light the fires and disappeared down the leader board and then it was the second of the last two Austrians, Kathrin Zettel. Zettel had just over a tenth of a second advantage yet by the first split she was already on the back foot. Zettel had nothing to give on the run in to the finish and had to settle for second behind Schild but ahead of Poutiainen.
Maria Riesch, knowing that she could make up points on Lindsey Vonn, who had skied out on the first run, could be seen determined and focused at the start yet by the time she left the start, from the roar from both Schild and Zettel’s runs she knew she had to ski fast. Riesch’s second run was tentative and by the finish a number of small mistakes had cost her dearly. While she split the Austrians, she had to wait and see what her younger sister could do.
For Susanne Riesch, this was the first time she had lead a World Cup race. The German’s were starting to dream after the first run that the wait since January 1999, when they last took the top two spots in a World Cup race, might be over. With Maria’s hesitant second run placing her in second, this scenario continues. Susanne struggled with the pressure of leading the race and most of the crowd hoping she would slow down. The power of the crowd had an effect on the German and she straddled in the opening section and was out.
The joy on Schild’s face was there for all to see. While Zettel celebrated her seventh podium, Riesch took the red bib for leading the Slalom World Cup and Schild took her second win of the season.
While the Riesch sisters took the plaudits after the first run, Norway’s Loeseth sister’s all managed to qualify for the second run taking 20th (Nina), 22nd (Mona) and 27th (Lene).
No Chemmy racing as she has taken advice from her back up team to rest her feet. Speaking in Haus last weekend, Chemmy explained that she was sad she could not race in Flachau as she felt that she would have had a chance to make a qualification for the second run had she been able to race. Flachau is not the steepest slalom the girl’s race and this would have been a great morale booster for the GS and Super G specialist.
With Vonn crashing out on the first run, the main talking point outside the Riesch sister’s dominance was the crash of Anja Paerson on the first run. While Vonn proved that she is normal, Paerson must wait until the morning to see how her knee is.
So Schild takes the win and must now be a real threat to Vonn and her quest for five Gold Medals next month in Vancouver. As the girls go to Maribor next weekend for another technical weekend, destination Vancouver is getting closer!