The young Croatian Zrinka Ljutic won in style in the slalom of Kranjska Gora, in Slovenia. She beat the Swiss Wendy Holdener and finished far ahead of the Swede Anna Swenn-Larsson (+ 1”19).
This success in a stage counting for the Alpine Skiing World Cup perfectly concluded a successful weekend for the Croatian, who is increasingly asserting herself as a promising skier.
Ljutic continues successes
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 heat which they finished in the same time (50”82), she was more solid in the second to win in 1’39”62.
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.
As in the Killington slalom, she managed to beat Holdener by 16 hundredths. Swenn-Larsson, 4e of the first round, completes the podium at 1”19.
“I didn’t know how well Wendy skiedsavored 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. »
A breathtaking finish
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 pt), sixth in the race, and moved to the top of the specialty rankings (309 pt).
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 (3e) and Levi in Finland (2e). 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 only to fail at 9e rang (+ 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 finished only sixth at 1”96 (6e of the first round and 10e of the second).
Frenchwoman Marie Lamure, 10e of 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 in total.
An encouraging result for the skier from Courchevel who finished in 20the place last weekend in the Austrian resort. The other two Tricolores Chiara Pogneaux and Clarisse Brèche were respectively ranked in the 25e et 27e rows (+ 4”16 and + 4”19).
Rankings
Slalom : 1. Zrinka Ljutic (Cro) in 1”39”62, 2. Wendy Holdener (Sui) at 0”16, 3. Anna Swenn Larsson (Sue) at 1”19, 4. Camille Rast (Sui) at 1 ”36, 5. Mélanie Meillard (Sui) at 1”44… 10. Marie Lamure (Fra) at 2”68…
