It has been long wait for Tessa Worley to move off 13 wins and on to career win number 14 but she chose the day her boyfriend will race his last race in Schladming. From fifth after the first run Tessa Worley produced the fastest second run time to win for the first time since 2018 in Soelden. Lara Gut-Berahmi took second with Marta Bassino taking third. Mikaela Shiffrin too fourth with Meta Hrovat fifth. First run leader, Michelle Gisin dropped to sixth. Britain's Alex Tilley finished in 28th.
Kronplatz is a tough but unsuspecting hill. The flat top section stay sin the sun for a long part of the day with the steep section in the middle of the course (at its steepest, 61%) the first part of the course to lose the sun and with it the best visibility. the course then ends on a relatively flat section into the finish.
It was the middle section that saw the race won and lost for most racers as they struggled to keep the edge and carve turns. The first run had seen Michelle Gisin take a commanding lead over the rest of the field and it looked like she would be able to pull some serious points back on Petra Vlhova in the race for the Overall Globe. Vlhova was down in ninth and almost one and half seconds off her pace.
Marta Bassino, winner of four races this season in the GianT Slalom World Cup was uncharacteristically off the pace in seventh but produced a stunning second run to take the lead and then hold it from Meta Hrovat.
Bassino had not reckoned on the performance of Worley and she posted the second fastest time on the run to take pole position. The fastest time had been set by Poland's Maryna Gasienca-Daniel who rose from 24th after the first run into 11th.
Worley attacked the course and produced a stunning run that saw her go 0.84 ahead of Bassino. Would this be enough to better the times set by the remaining racers?
Lara Gut-Behrami is on a podium role at the moment. Two podiums in Crans Montana over the weekend, Downhill and Super G, and there is nothing better than a racer skiing with confidence to keep going. Although she had a tenth of a second advantage over Worley, she could not hold on to the lead but slotted in just behind. Three to go.
Federica Brignone was on a role last year but this year just cannot seem to get going, Small mistakes that she was getting away with last year are berthing bigger and the wins are not happening. Another mistake on the second run saw her drop down the results in a tightly packed field. The frustration was written across her face in the finish. She just wants to ski fast.
Mikaela Shiffrin is the only other racer to have won a race other than Bassino this season but the ice had the better of the American. She did not seem to be able to catch the groove and dropped down into fourth with just Gisin to go. It would be a third winner this season for definite.
Gisin held an advantage of over three quarters of second on Worley as she left the start. At each split, a little had ebbed away but she still was showing the green light. It was not the greatest run but all she needed was to be one hundredth ahead of the rest in the finish for her second win of the season.
Six gates from home the nightmare happened as she made a big mistake that scrubbed off all her speed as she dumped momentarily on her inside and twisted her body. Game over for the win but she kept the momentum going and was able to make the finish dropping into sixth.
With Vlhova in 12th, Gisin reduced the overall deficit but not with the big points score she would have hoped for.
For Alex Tilley the second run hald such high hopes. She had started in 17th and was looking for a second World Cup points finish of the season after a nightmare few races. Tilley explained to her coach Noel Baxter that "she made a mistake on the 7-8th gate (not on the tv feed) and thought she’d blown it, so in her head she just decided to get to the finish, she’s really upset because she’d lost only 0.09 to that point to Maryna who ended up winning the run. It’s a very basic mental error, she shouldn’t do that and we never talk about it, however I think she’s just not so confident right now after the series of DNF’s.:
While she made 3 points from 28th, it could have been lots more. Afterwards she was "Disappointed. Determined to take the positives though."
Baxter added: "As I said before she’s skiing well in training so hopefully she can arrive to Cortina with some confidence and momentum."
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