Hosp back on top as veterans prevail in Aspen

ASPEN, Colo. – Between runs of the Aspen Winternational slalom, all the buzz was centered around first run leader Mikaela Shiffrin ending the American winless drought. Shiffrin sat in the leaders box with a .14 second advantage over Levi winner Tina Maze and Austrian Kathrin Zettel, who added to her Aspen podium record yesterday with a second place finish. But as is proven true time after time, nothing is guaranteed in slalom. And today it was Austrian Nicole Hosp who spoiled the party with an impressive second run that moved her from seventh after run one to her first World Cup victory since 2008.

Hosp skied a solid first run, but still found herself .82 seconds behind leader Shiffrin. The veteran of the Austrian team, now with 12 World Cup victories and 55 podiums, showed that she is not one to be counted out after years of struggling with injuries. She skied an aggressive run, knowing that she needed to make up time to find the podium. She stayed ahead of the challenging, turny Swiss set, attacking into the top of the turn to come down with a commanding 1.17 second advantage over then-leader Sarka Strachova.

Frida Hansdotter, the perennial second-place finisher in slalom, immediately followed and shrunk Hosp’s lead to .17 seconds, making the time seem beatable with five skiers remaining. But as the racers took to the course, the lead in the start shrank at each interval, until all that remained between Hosp and a return to the winner’s circle was a 19-year-old American (who, mind you, was only seven years old when Hosp won her first race in 2002 in a three way tie in Soelden).

Shiffrin pushed out of the start, but never looked comfortable on the grippy Aspen snow, and the crowd groaned as her .82 second lead was cut in half by the first interval, and then was completely gone by interval two. Hosp waited until Shiffrin crossed the finish line, 1.08 seconds behind – in fifth place – before celebrating her first trip to the top of a slalom podium since 2008.

“I was fighting for this season and I thought in the summer I wanted to make a really good year again, and I want to win races again but I was not that sure it was possible in slalom,” acknowledged Hosp. “I said it before, the young girls are pushing so much but I am so happy that it works again, and I hope I can do it in all disciplines; I feel good.”

Hosp is no stranger to the prize giving ceremony and is now the owner of 12 World Cup victories and 55 podiums. A string of injuries beginning in 2009 provided struggles for the 2007 overall champion, until last season when she began to regain her old form and walked away from the Sochi Olympics with two medals, a silver in the super-combined and a bronze in super G. But the technical events, which early on in her career were her bread and butter, were still not up to par – until today.

“It’s really crazy because in the pre-season I said, ‘Oh slalom, it’s really difficult to win a race’ and with all of the young girls they are really pushing and they are fresh,” acknowledged Hosp. “I’ve done a lot of my goals. I’ve won many races, and I’ve won 10 medals at world championships and Olympics and I think that’s really a lot. There are bad times, but I’ve learned a lot about me in the bad times and a lot about the people around me. And it’s really important for me and I am happy that I am back – this victory is like my first victory.”

Hansdotter, who now has 12 podiums (all in slalom, with 11 of those second-place finishes), crossed the finish line in second, only .17 seconds behind Hosp, but was clearly disappointed, not knowing that her time would hold up through the remaining five racers. As each of the remaining racers came down and her time held up, she slowly realized a podium was within reach.

“Yeah for sure, it’s always fun to ski good and I know I have and I know I have the possibility to really be on the top and take this podium so it’s fun to always be there on top,” said Hansdotter of her 12th podium in slalom. “For me it was on the last part, the flat, to really let the skis go. I think it was tough because with the snow … but that was my goal.”

“I think we had a pretty tough day yesterday in GS and it wasn’t really fitting to us,” said Swedish technical coach Christian Thoma. “Today it’s good to have a successful day in slalom – great second place from Frida and also a good place from Maria (Pietilae-Holmner) and also the younger ones they were doing really well like Anna Swenn-Larsson.”

The grippy, chattery Colorado snow was a challenge for several racers, and the top five after run one struggled to hold their positions. Marie-Michele Gagnon moved from fifth to eighth, Maria Pietilae-Holmner sat in fourth after run one and came through the finish in third behind Hosp and Hansdotter, ultimately finishing fourth. Zettel, who keeps adding to her podium record in Aspen, finished third on run one and held on to third on the day, increasing her record to 10 podiums and securing her fourth straight podium performance on the Ruthie’s Run course.

“The only thing I know is that I like difficult places and Aspen is one of the toughest races we have on the World Cup and starting with Soelden where I am mostly good and here I love it from the beginning,” said Zettel on her strong results in Aspen. “I was hoping to be back today so it was really great (to be on the podium). It was looking pretty good after the first run today and I had to fight really hard in the second it was so tough for skiing I couldn’t get any good feeling from the start to the finish and I didn’t think it was enough for the podium.”

Maze, who won the opening slalom race in Levi earlier this month, was lurking just behind Shiffrin after run one and in a prime position to take her second consecutive slalom win, but she had a huge mistake early on in run two. She regrouped to salvage a top-10 result, landing in ninth. Shiffrin followed, hoping to win the first ever slalom by an American in Aspen, but it was not to be, as she admitted her slalom skiing in not quite up to her standards starting off the season.

“The conditions were good and it was really aggressive snow which we don’t normally have but I think mostly it’s just that I have a little bit of work to do with my slalom honestly,” admitted Shiffrin. “I’m really trying to get back to the skiing where I know that its good enough no matter what and I get in to the gate with confidence and just pull out a training run.”

It has been a weekend full of feel good stories, with veteran athletes finding old form after injuries, and others reaching new levels, such as Eva-Maria Brem winning her first World Cup yesterday, and then Hosp finding her way back to the top step of the podium today. But the biggest cheers and excitement of the weekend may have come from the the result of American Resi Stiegler, who was left off of the U.S. Ski Team at the end of the season after struggling back from a handful of injuries for a number of years in a row.

She trained independently all summer and has started off the year with newfound determination, strength, and strong results. Stiegler skied to a solid 18th place in Levi to start the season and then kicked out of the start on run one, briefly seeing the green light at the first interval before ultimately dropping back to finish 11th. Her second run provided the biggest cheers of the day as she came down with .47 second advantage, landing her in 11th on the day and giving her her best result since she was ninth in a slalom in Zagreb in early 2013.

“Well, I actually didn’t think my run was that good because I felt not the greatest, I was kind of hacking down there,” said Stiegler of the challenging set on run two. “I think I was a little nervous and wanted to finish and I was really surprised to get the green light I was like ‘Oh my god!’ Because I never get the green after second run so I was just really really happy that no matter what I would get a top 15 today.”

The other two American starters, Paula Moltzan and Hailey Duke both had trouble finding the rhythm of the course with the grippy snow and had a DNF and DNQ, respectively, on the first run.

The women’s World Cup tour will move to Canada with a downhill training run for the ladies beginning on Tuesday, followed by two downhills and a super G on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

THE SCOOP

By Hank McKee

1. Hosp, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
2. Hansdotter, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
3. Zettel, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4. Pietilae-Holmner, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
5. Shiffrin, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6. Strachova, Head/Head/Head
7. Kirchgasser, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8. Gagnon, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
9. Maze, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic
10. Schild, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol

Women’s World Cup slalom, Aspen, USA, Nov. 30, 2014:

• It is the fourth race of the women’s 35 race World Cup season. … It is the second of ten scheduled slaloms (plus one city event counting as a slalom). … It is the 72^nd World Cup race hosted by Aspen, the 21^st slalom.
• Kathrin Zettel is the defending champion. …… The last World Cup win at Aspen by an American was Bill Johnson winning a downhill in March of 1984. … Tamara McKinney is the only U.S. woman to have won at the site (1981 GS).
• It is the 12^th career World Cup win for Nicole Hosp … her first since 2008. … It is the second time she has won the Aspen slalom, having also achieved it Dec. 9, 2007.
• It is the 13^th career World Cup podium for Frida Hansdotter … the 12^th time she has finished second.
• It is the 49^th career World Cup podium for Kathrin Zettel … her third of the season and second in two days.
• It is the 21^st World Cup top five for Mikaela Shiffrin. … It is her career-best result at Aspen. ….. It is a career-best World Cup finish at Aspen for Marie-Michele Gagnon. … It is the second-best career Aspen finish for Resi Stiegler, bested only by  an eighth-place finish in slalom Dec. 9, 2007.
• Zettel leads the World Cup overall standings 250-209 over Mikaela Shiffrin. … Tina Maze is third with 188pts. … The top Canadian is Marie-Michele Gagnon in 12^th with 79pts.
• Frida Hansdotter leads the slalom standings 160-129 over Hosp and Maze, tied in second with 129.
• The Austrian women lead the Nations Cup standings 914-469 over Sweden. … Italy is third with 303pts. … The U.S. is fourth at 265 and Canada 10^th with 91pts.

RESULTS