The 20-year-old Croatian, in the lead after the first round, held on ahead of the Swiss Wendy Holdener and the Swede Anna Swenn-Larsson.
The Croatian Zrinka Ljutic won the Kranjska Gora slalom in style, counting for the Alpine Ski World Cup, after a very competitive race ahead of the Swiss Wendy Holdener and the Swede Anna Swenn-Larsson, to conclude Sunday a successful Slovenian weekend.
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 throughout 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 won over to her cause. She beat Holdener by 16/100 and Swenn-Larsson, 4th in the first round, by 1 sec 19/100.
First career top 10 for Marie Lamure
This is the second victory for Ljutic who has dominated the last four slalom rounds of this season with his success last weekend in Semmering. With 456 points, she also takes first place in the general World Cup rankings ahead of Swede Sara Hector (447 pts), sixth in the race, and is at the top of the specialty rankings (309 pts).
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 sign the tenth time overall, her best career result. The other two Tricolores Chiara Pogneaux and Clarisse Brèche were ranked 25th and 27th respectively (+4.16 and +4.19).
