Viktoria Rebensburg’s short winning streak is a cunning one, the best German ski racer has experienced a great disappointment at the World Cup giant slalom in Courchevel, France. After the successes of Sölden and Killington, the Olympic champion from Kreuth only finished 14th in her last race before the Christmas break. The 28-year-old was weaker in her showpiece discipline last as 23rd. in December 2016 in Sestriere/Italy.
“It didn’t work like that,”said Rebensburg:”I need a little break” After fifth place in the first run and 1.06 seconds behind the front runner, she had decided to simply “drive better” in the final – especially in the lower part, where she had lost a lot of time.
But she didn’t succeed at all, obviously also because of problems with the material. At the finish she threw a raging ski into the snow. Their backlog to winner Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) was 2.21 seconds – unacceptable for Rebensburg.
Wolfgang Maier, DSV alpine director, found Rebensburg’s outburst of rage “not so fitting”, and the final race of his best athlete was simply “far too passive”. However, he emphasized that this did not change “anything about their good form and performance in the giant slalom. Nobody’s perfect.”
Rebensburg also lost her lead in the discipline World Cup, where she is now seven points behind Shiffrin. In the overall ranking, the American has already an advantage of 191 points over second-placed Rebensburg.
The slalom Olympic champion celebrated her 34th birthday. World Cup victory ahead of giant slalom world champion Tessa Worley from France (0.99 seconds back). Manuela Mölgg (Italy/1,01) was third.
Jessica Hilzinger had the final as 32nd place. Maren Wiesler retired shortly before the finish. On Wednesday a parallel slalom will be held in Courchevel as the last race before Christmas, without Rebensburg.