Tina Maze is on fire both on the snow and off the course. The Slovenian held on from winning the first run to just stay in the lead after the second run and win her third Giant Slalom of the season. In the process she has extended her lead in the race for the Overall after Lindsey Vonn made a few too many errors in try to chase her down and limit the damage in terms of points lost. Viktoria Rebensburg and Tessa Worley swapped places after the second run in trying to catch up with the Slovenian.
The talk before the race had been all about the storm brewing over what Lindsey Vonn had or had not said in the finish arena after winning the Super G the previous day. With FIS having thrown the objection out, the Slovenia team were being very tight lipped about things and after the first run, Maze and Vonn spoke and shook hands but you could sense the all was not well. In winning the race Maze has hurt Vonn more where it hurts - in adding 100 more World Cup points to her total for the season.
The St Moritz hill was pestered by wind that saw some gates look like Giant Slalom gates in Scotland, bent down by the force of the wind. Certainly the new skis do not make for pretty viewing on the race hill but racers can either complain about this or knuckle down and adapt. It certainly looks like Maze, Rebensburg and Worley have taken the latter option as they stood on the podium.
After the race Maze said that her weekend had gone really well with two wins and a second in the Super G:Â "I can be really happy with my weekend. It is hard to keep this tempo, to go to push in every race and go to the limits to be really fast. It's been a really positive day with sunshine and everything. I am very happy!"
For Viktoria Rebensburg, just 0.08 seconds back:Â Â "I have been very close to Tina today. I am on the right direction, improving with my technique. That's a really good thing and it was a great result for me here today. But it still is a better view from the very top of the podium."
Despite having dropped from second to third on the second run, Tessa Worley scored her first podium in a year:Â "I knew, I could be on the podium this season and now it already worked out. In the second run, I really wanted to go for it. It was a bit tougher, the snow was hard and bumpy. But it was great, so here I am on the podium, hopefully more are to come during the winter!"
Maze's lead in the Overall is looking pretty serious now but when you look at the races coming up, Vonn has the opportunity to claw some points back in the speed races in Val d'Isere. With the way that Maze is skiing in all disciplines, Vonn will have her work cut out if she is to secure the Overall again this season, she currently sits in third behind Maze and Maria Hoefl-Riesch who was 9th in the race.
Full race results