It’s a name that alpine ski enthusiasts will likely have to get used to. Croatian Zrinka Ljutic won her second World Cup slalom on Sunday in Kranjska Gora, a week after winning in Semmering. As in Austria, the very talented young woman set the best time in each of the two rounds. At the same time, it rises to the top of the seasonal ranking of the specialty, and that of the general.
During the first round, she finished in the same time, within a hundredth of a second, as the Schwyz native Wendy Holdener. Accustomed to this kind of pressure, even if she is experiencing a recovery season after a long convalescence following an ankle injury, the thirty-year-old managed an almost perfect second pass, leaving the first of the next ones more than a second behind. . But it was Zrinka Ljutic who had the honor of bringing up the rear and she did even better, by 0”16.
Behind the two untouchables of the day, the other Swiss women achieved a great overall performance. Camille Rast, who wore the leader’s bib in the slalom rankings, finished in fourth place, just ahead of her friend Mélanie Meillard, who seems decidedly close to her first World Cup podium – apart from a parallel event in 2018. Eliane Christen took 15th place, Elena Stoffel 18th and Janine Mächler 21st, all very honorable results for these athletes. On the other hand, Michelle Gisin is still struggling to find her feet in slalom. She couldn’t do better than 28th.
