As an untouchable tightrope walker, Croatian Zrinka Ljutic flew over the slalom in Semmering, Austria on Sunday, winning her first victory in the Alpine Skiing World Cup and relegating the competition to almost two seconds. The 20-year-old Croatian won the first and then the second heat, maintaining control and speed to finish 1.75 seconds ahead of German Lena Duerr and 1.85 over Austrian Katharina Liensberger.
« It’s like a dream for me, a childhood dream, to realize it is absolutely incredible », greeted the young Croatian with a smile, just after her performance.
Ljutic « didn’t know » if she was « fast or not » during the second round. So she gave it her all. To the point of coming close to snagging a stake and falling. But everything smiled on her and she continued her almost perfect descent, gaining more time until the finish line. This is already his sixth podium in the World Cup, since 2023.
Starting with bib 2 during the morning round, Ljutic was ahead of Duerr by 51 hundredths, who started first, and by 98 hundredths of the Swiss Camille Rast.
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Rast, first in the general classification of the World Cup, finally finished 4th in the Austrian Pre-Alps. She paid the price for the great comeback of local skier Liensberger, who gained four places during the second round.
This fourth slalom of the season did not please the French women: only three qualified for the second round and in the end, Marie Lamure finished in 20th place, ahead of Clarisse Brèche (23rd) and Chiara Pogneaux (25th).
Overall World Cup standings
1. Camille Rast (SUI) 351 pts
2. Zrinka Ljutic (CRO) 334
3. Federica Brignone (ITA) 319
4. Sara Hector (SWE) 307
5. Lena Dürr (GER) 270
6. Lara Gut (SUI) 269
7. Cornelia Hütter (AUT) 250
8. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) 245
9. Sofia Goggia (ITA) 240
10. Katharina Liensberger (AUT) 237
Slalom World Cup rankings
1. Camille Rast (SUI) 255 pts
2. Lena Dürr (GER) 235
3. Zrinka Ljutic (CRO) 209
4. Katharina Liensberger (AUT) 205
5. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) 200
6. Wendy Holdener (SUI) 185
7. Anna Swenn-Larsson (SWE) 146
8. Melanie Meillard (SUI) 143
9. Lara Colturi (ALB) 130
10. Sara Hector (SWE) 111
