The Croatian Zrinka Ljutic won the Kranjska Gora slalom in style, counting for the Alpine Skiing World Cup, after a breathtaking duel with the Swiss Wendy Holdener and far ahead of the Swede Anna Swenn-Larsson, for conclude a successful Slovenian weekend on Sunday.
The 20-year-old prodigy is the first Croatian to win on the Podkoren track. And in what way! Titillated by her rival Holdener in the first round which they both finished in the same time (50.82), she was solid in the second to win in 1 min 39 sec 62/100.
After a quick start, she gained time on Holdener, sector by sector, before letting go of the horses for a breathtaking finish. Convinced of having struck a major blow, she exploded with joy in the finish area, sharing a moving moment of communion with the public committed to her cause.
She beat Holdener, already second in the Killington slalom, by 16/100. Swenn-Larsson, 4th in the first round, completes the podium at 1 sec 19/100.
“I didn’t know how well Wendy skied”savored Ljutic, after his victory.
“I had my own idea and focused on myself. I decided the pace of the descent, the way I wanted to ski, and I really tried to stick to that vision.”she continued.
Breathless finish
Croatian Zrinka Ljutic (center) won the World Cup slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, ahead of Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener (left) and Sweden’s Anna Swenn-Larsson, January 5, 2025 / Jure Makovec / AFP
This is the second victory for Ljutic who dominated the last four slalom rounds of this season with his success last weekend in Semmering (Austria). With 456 points, she took first place in the general World Cup rankings ahead of Swede Sara Hector (447 pts), sixth in the race, and moved to the top of the specialty rankings (309 pts).
Before this breathtaking finish, the Austrian Katharina Liensberger was in the lead for a long time thanks to her ease in the last part of the course, the most technical and complicated. She could potentially join the fight after two podiums this winter in Semmering (3rd) and Levi in Finland (2nd). But she saw her hopes of victory fade away at the very end of the race when the big names entered the track and began to erase her from the shelves, falling to 9th place (+2.50).
In the absence of the American Mikaela Shiffrin, the queen of giant slalom, and the Slovakian Petra Vlhova, eyes were focused on Sara Hector, who had crushed the giant the day before. But the Swede only finished sixth at 1 sec 96/100 (6th in the first round and 10th in the second).
The Frenchwoman Marie Lamure, 10th in the first round, was serious with three rather decent first sectors of the race where she took time from the best, to set the tenth time in total. This is an encouraging result for the skier from Courchevel who finished in 20th place last weekend in the Austrian resort. The other two Tricolores Chiara Pogneaux and Clarisse Brèche were ranked 25th and 27th respectively (+4.16 and +4.19).
