Viktoria Rebensburg has caused the next drumbeat in the Olympic season. The 28-year-old from Kreuth am Tegernsee took second place behind Mikaela Shiffrin at the second World Cup downhill in Lake Louise.
The Olympic champion in the supreme discipline, in which she has now been on the podium five times, was only that good once: in December 2014 in Val d’ Isere, France.
For her first downhill victory, Rebensburg, who has already won two races in the giant slalom this season, was only 0.13 seconds short.
On the other hand, slalom Olympic champion Shiffrin triumphed for the first time in her only fourth World Cup downhill – although she made a serious mistake in the “Fischnetz”corner.
Third place went to Michelle Gisin, followed by Cornelia Hütter from Austria, who had won the season’s speed premiere on Friday. Lindsey Vonn didn’t make it into the Top 10 one day after she fell in her “living room”.
A power cut in the Lake Louise ski resort delayed the race by 75 minutes. When suddenly nothing happened, numerous athletes were trapped in the lift, including Vonn and Rebensburg.
Scurrile scenes took place: Rebensburg was able to free himself with a jump from a height of about one and a half meters.
Because the lift could not be put back into operation quickly enough, the skiers were pulled up to the start by ropeways attached to snow groomers.