ST. MORITZ, Switzerland — Snow fell lightly all day on Friday and flat light plagued the Engiadina slope for the women’s alpine combined. Due to the ever changing fog at the top of the course, FIS officials decided to lower the downhill start to the super-G start.
Despite the change, the race started on time, and Italian Sofia Goggia took the lead in the downhill run ahead of Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec. Switzerland’s Lara Gut sat in third, and her teammate Michelle Gisin was just behind in fourth. Things looked good for Gisin and Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener, who was in seventh place, heading into the slalom run as they are both primarily tech skiers.
Both athletes skied stunning slalom runs. Holdener took the win, becoming the women’s Alpine Combined World Champion. Gisin was just 0.05 seconds behind to take the silver medal. This is the first time that two Swiss athletes have gone 1-2 in a World Championships race since 1989. Rounding out the podium was Austrian veteran Michaela Kirchgasser, 0.38 seconds out in third place.
While there’s no doubt this was a huge moment for the winner, it was also a big moment for her home country. Holdener has also broken a long drought for Switzerland, becoming the first World Champion from Switzerland since Sonja Nef in 2001, and also the first Swiss athlete to win a world title on home snow in three decades.
“It feels great,” she shared. “I mean, I think I’m not believing it right now. It’s like, ‘What?’ But I enjoy every moment of it because I had a big disappointment in Stockholm, so it’s so nice.”
This is Holdener’s fourth World Championships and first podium. Holdener appeared to be overjoyed to share the podium with her teammate. The pair could barely stop hugging and smiling.
St. Moritz is Gisin’s third World Championships and the alpine combined is her first ever World Championship medal. She has only podiumed in one World Cup, the 2016 alpine combined in Val d’Isere, France.
“There were doubts, there were a lot of nerves; I didn’t sleep a lot last night,” Gisin said. “I woke up at five and tried to stay calm, but it was so difficult. Now it’s done, and I haven’t realized it yet, and it’s just amazing to have a double podium with Wendy. Could it get any better and more amazing in front of the home crowd? I don’t think so. We were on the podium together a long, long time ago at a national race for kids; I remember meeting Wendy there for the first time, we’ve been through a lot since then.”
St. Moritz marks Kirchgasser’s sixth World Championships, and this result is a repeat of her performance in the alpine combined at the Vail/Beaver Creek World Championships in 2015.
“It’s crazy,” the Austrian said. “I mean after the downhill, I knew it would be really challenging, and then, I just made the mistake at the third and fourth gate and I was like ‘I have to push now.’”
Kirchgasser added that waiting in the finish after her run is the worst part because you cannot control what happens next, but when she knew she got third, she was happy.
Vonn led for the Americans, coming in fifth place. Laurenne Ross found her way onto the top page of results, coming in 15th place.
“It was a battle,” Ross said. “It was a little wild; I might have gone on my bum once but it was pretty fun. I made it down, which is kind of amazing considering the run. You can hear (the crowd) from the start; it’s really cool, such good energy and it’s really motivating and inspiring, it’s awesome.”
Stacey Cook was the only other American racing, coming in 24th place. The Canadians were led by Marie-Michele Gagnon in sixth place, her best World Championships result to date. Valerie Grenier made an impressive jump from bib 43 to 11th place. Candace Crawford finished the day in 21st place and Mikaela Tommy did not finish.
Goggia and Stuhec both did not finish the slalom run. Gut was injured during slalom training between runs and has been diagnosed with a knee injury.
World Championship racing continues with the men’s downhill on Saturday, Feb. 11 and the women’s downhill on Sunday, Feb. 12.
View more of the action in the photo gallery here.
Top 10
- Wendy Holdener (SUI) – Head / Head / Head
- Michelle Gisin (SUI) – Rossignol / Look / Rossignol
- Michaela Kirchgasser (AUT) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
- Denise Feierabend (SUI) – Head / Head / Head
- Lindsey Vonn (USA) – Head / Head / Head
- Marie-Michele Gagnon (CAN) – Rossignol / Look / Rossignol
- Federica Brignone (ITA) – Rossignol / Look / Rossignol
- Marusa Ferk (SLO) – Stoeckli / Salomon / Head
- Ricarda Haaser (AUT) – Fischer / Fischer / Fischer
- Raghnild Mowinckel (NOR) – Head / Head / Head
Official Results
| Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total Time | Diff. | FIS Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | 516280 | HOLDENER Wendy | 1993 | SUI | 1:17.84 | 41.04 | 1:58.88 | 0.00 | |
| 2 | 13 | 516284 | GISIN Michelle | 1993 | SUI | 1:17.47 | 41.46 | 1:58.93 | +0.05 | 0.48 |
| 3 | 3 | 55759 | KIRCHGASSER Michaela | 1985 | AUT | 1:18.23 | 41.03 | 1:59.26 | +0.38 | 3.68 |
| 4 | 15 | 515997 | FEIERABEND Denise | 1989 | SUI | 1:18.38 | 41.32 | 1:59.70 | +0.82 | 7.93 |
| 5 | 19 | 537544 | VONN Lindsey | 1984 | USA | 1:17.75 | 41.98 | 1:59.73 | +0.85 | 8.22 |
| 6 | 5 | 105269 | GAGNON Marie-Michele | 1989 | CAN | 1:18.61 | 41.54 | 2:00.15 | +1.27 | 12.29 |
| 7 | 17 | 297601 | BRIGNONE Federica | 1990 | ITA | 1:18.51 | 41.75 | 2:00.26 | +1.38 | 13.35 |
| 8 | 2 | 565320 | FERK Marusa | 1988 | SLO | 1:18.31 | 42.41 | 2:00.72 | +1.84 | 17.80 |
| 9 | 14 | 56174 | HAASER Ricarda | 1993 | AUT | 1:19.17 | 41.64 | 2:00.81 | +1.93 | 18.67 |
| 10 | 12 | 425929 | MOWINCKEL Ragnhild | 1992 | NOR | 1:18.22 | 42.62 | 2:00.84 | +1.96 | 18.96 |
| 11 | 43 | 107613 | GRENIER Valerie | 1996 | CAN | 1:18.82 | 42.12 | 2:00.94 | +2.06 | 19.93 |
| 12 | 11 | 196726 | BARTHET Anne-Sophie | 1988 | FRA | 1:18.12 | 42.84 | 2:00.96 | +2.08 | 20.12 |
| 13 | 16 | 56198 | SCHEYER Christine | 1994 | AUT | 1:18.45 | 42.78 | 2:01.23 | +2.35 | 22.73 |
| 14 | 24 | 426043 | TVIBERG Maria Therese | 1994 | NOR | 1:19.48 | 41.79 | 2:01.27 | +2.39 | 23.12 |
| 15 | 4 | 538573 | ROSS Laurenne | 1988 | USA | 1:17.57 | 43.75 | 2:01.32 | +2.44 | 23.60 |
| 16 | 20 | 197497 | MIRADOLI Romane | 1994 | FRA | 1:19.11 | 42.53 | 2:01.64 | +2.76 | 26.70 |
| 17 | 41 | 426187 | LYSDAHL Kristin | 1996 | NOR | 1:19.96 | 41.82 | 2:01.78 | +2.90 | 28.05 |
| 17 | 21 | 299276 | BASSINO Marta | 1996 | ITA | 1:19.92 | 41.86 | 2:01.78 | +2.90 | 28.05 |
| 19 | 31 | 506701 | HOERNBLAD Lisa | 1996 | SWE | 1:19.37 | 42.56 | 2:01.93 | +3.05 | 29.50 |
| 20 | 30 | 155763 | LEDECKA Ester | 1995 | CZE | 1:19.45 | 42.67 | 2:02.12 | +3.24 | 31.34 |
| 21 | 28 | 107387 | CRAWFORD Candace | 1994 | CAN | 1:20.42 | 42.22 | 2:02.64 | +3.76 | 36.37 |
| 22 | 29 | 537582 | COOK Stacey | 1984 | USA | 1:19.38 | 44.02 | 2:03.40 | +4.52 | 43.72 |
| 23 | 35 | 435334 | GASIENICA-DANIEL Maryna | 1994 | POL | 1:20.54 | 43.35 | 2:03.89 | +5.01 | 48.46 |
| 24 | 23 | 315187 | IGNJATOVIC Nevena | 1990 | SRB | 1:21.23 | 43.81 | 2:05.04 | +6.16 | 59.59 |
| 25 | 33 | 485749 | PROKOPYEVA Aleksandra | 1994 | RUS | 1:20.50 | 44.69 | 2:05.19 | +6.31 | 61.04 |
| 26 | 27 | 35089 | SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena | 1984 | ARG | 1:21.62 | 44.20 | 2:05.82 | +6.94 | 67.13 |
| 27 | 42 | 536481 | SCHLEPER Sarah | 1979 | MEX | 1:23.94 | 46.10 | 2:10.04 | +11.16 | 107.96 |
| 28 | 37 | 155503 | KLICNAROVA Pavla | 1988 | CZE | 1:22.52 | 47.71 | 2:10.23 | +11.35 | 109.80 |
| Disqualified 2nd run | ||||||||||
| 32 | 206668 | WEIDLE Kira | 1996 | GER | ||||||
| Did not start 2nd run | ||||||||||
| 40 | 115115 | BARAHONA Noelle | 1990 | CHI | ||||||
| 9 | 516138 | GUT Lara | 1991 | SUI | ||||||
| Did not start 1st run | ||||||||||
| 39 | 6535455 | JOHNSON Breezy | 1996 | USA | ||||||
| 8 | 355050 | WEIRATHER Tina | 1989 | LIE | ||||||
| Did not finish 2nd run | ||||||||||
| 38 | 385096 | POPOVIC Leona | 1997 | CRO | ||||||
| 36 | 107532 | TOMMY Mikaela | 1995 | CAN | ||||||
| 26 | 155699 | PAULATHOVA Katerina | 1993 | CZE | ||||||
| 22 | 565401 | BUCIK Ana | 1993 | SLO | ||||||
| 18 | 56241 | SCHNEEBERGER Rosina | 1994 | AUT | ||||||
| 10 | 297910 | CURTONI Elena | 1991 | ITA | ||||||
| 6 | 298323 | GOGGIA Sofia | 1992 | ITA | ||||||
| 1 | 565360 | STUHEC Ilka | 1990 | SLO | ||||||
| Did not finish 1st run | ||||||||||
| 34 | 375018 | COLETTI Alexandra | 1983 | MON | ||||||
| 25 | 425879 | RIIS-JOHANNESSEN Kristina | 1991 | NOR | ||||||
About the Author: Gabbi Hall
