Sweden stuns in home slalom

Two Swedes on the podium with Santa. GEPA

When Tina Maze crossed the line just in front of Frida Hansdotter, with an impressive run that was just three-hundredths slower than the fastest second run, it appeared as if the win would yet again allude Sweden on the home hill. But then first run leader Maria Pietilae-Holmner charged out of the start, holding nothing back — to give Sweden a historic day.

It was the first slalom win by a Swede on the Are course after years of finishing runner-up. Sweden also finished with two on the podium as Frida Hansdotter held off a hard charge by Mikaela Shiffrin to land in third. The race was originally scheduled to take place in Courchevel, France, but lack of snow moved the race north. No one was more happy about the change than the Swedish team.

The win by Pietilae-Holmner is only the third of her career, her second in slalom, with the third being the 2011 Munich city event. The slalom win comes four years after her first victory in Aspen in 2010. She led after run one on a fast, quick course and didn’t hold anything back on the second run.

“Actually, I felt pretty confident. I just promised myself to try to take the chance,” said Pietilae-Holmner of her approach in the start. “I was trying to enjoy myself today and it’s certainly a good sign for me to know what I’m doing and what I’m working on are the right things.”

The course sets, both of which were quick and fast with tricky, turny sections seemed well suited to the style of Pietilae-Holmner. She attacked in the fast turns and was able to adjust her line better than anyone where the pace picked up. She crossed the finish line on run two ecstatic and emotional with her result.

“It’s amazing. This means so much to me, and I have proven to myself that I could be the best again,” said a tearful Pietilae-Holmner. “We have such a strong team both in slalom and GS, so watch out for Sweden.”

Maze continued her recent success and was sandwiched between the two Swedes in second. It is already her fifth podium finish of the season. Tossing out her lackluster first race in Soelden, she has finished no worse than ninth all year. Her effort on the second run looked as if she might steal the win yet again from Sweden. She charged out of the start but then lost some time through the middle of the course before finding her rhythm again and building on her advantage from run one in the finish. She now has 73 career podiums, good for 11th all-time among women.

“It has been a great weekend, I’m really tired but we have done a great job. I did wish for some quicker legs in today’s second run so I could push a bit harder, like I did in the giant slalom but it didn’t really work out that way. I think I did a good, the Swedish girls were at home here and they went all in. The course was very nice, it flowed well and had a good rhythm and you could really enjoy skiing it,” Maze said.

Hansdotter found herself on the podium yet again, the 13th of her career, but her first on the third step. She has one win and 11 runner-up finishes. When she crossed the finish line today and bested the overall time of Shiffrin, who had the fastest second run, there was hope that she might add to her victory total. But it was not to be as the top three from the first run remained in that order. Her podium finish moves her into third all-time for Swedish women, but she still has a way to go to catch Pernilla Wiberg with 61 and Anja Paerson with 95. She maintains the lead in the slalom standings over Maze, 220-209.

“It’s nice to be at home, to ski in front of a Swedish crowd and to cross the finish line hearing them shout in excitement,” Hansdotter said. “For sure I would like to keep it (the lead in the slalom standings) for as long as I can, possibly until the Finals in Meribel but there are a lot of good girls trying to take it away from me.” 

Shiffrin, who was the two-time defending champion on the Are hill, took a big step in the right direction towards regaining her slalom dominance. She started first on run one and ran into a little trouble on tougher sections, but only found herself trailing by 0.53 seconds. Her second run was like the Shiffrin of old, as she started out a little slow and then gradually found her speed as she made her way down the course. She ended up with the fastest second run and moved up from sixth to fourth overall, missing the podium by a mere two-hundredths.

“I’m actually pretty satisfied. The podium wasn’t meant to be today, neither was the win, but I’m getting closer, two-hundredths is a little bit painful,” commented Shiffrin. “It would have been nicer to be on the podium in third place, but I’m feeling more and more confident with my skiing and the second run was the first time this year in a slalom where I got in the gate and was like, ‘OK, I can do this!’ That’s a huge step.”

The remaining Americans were led by Resi Stiegler who continues to gain confidence and consistency, finishing 17th, for her third straight top-20 to start the season. Just as she was in Aspen, Stiegler pushed quickly out of the gate to the first interval and then appeared to back off slightly to find the finish line. But the results have given her her best start since before her string of injuries began in 2007.

The other two American starters, Paula Moltzan and Hailey Duke, did not qualify for a second run, with Moltzan missing the cut by only two-tenths of a second.

Marie-Michele Gagnon, who dislocated her shoulder once again in the GS race just the day before, led the Canadians in 11th and Erin Mielzynski had a confidence-boosting result in 21st for her first points of the season. The women now move on to Val D’Isere, France, for a weekend of speed racing Dec. 20-21.

See more photos from today’s race here.

THE SCOOP

By Hank McKee

1. Pietilae-Holmner, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
2. Maze, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic
3. Hansdotter, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
4. Shiffrin, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5. Kirchgasser, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6. Costazza, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
7. Thalmann, Head/Head/Head
8. Holdener, Head/Head/Head
9. Gisin, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
10. Strachova, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer

Women’s World Cup slalom, Are, Sweden, Dec. 13, 2014:

• It is a race relocated from Courchevel, France, due to a lack of snow and warm weather. … It is the ninth of 35 races on the women’s World Cup schedule and the third of 11 women’s slaloms (including a city parallel event). … It is the third of six races set for Are this season and the third of four relocated from France this weekend.
• It is the third career World Cup win for Maria Pietilae-Holmner, and second slalom. … It is her second podium finish at Are, the previous a second place coming last March 8. … The last Swedish win came from Frida Hansdotter on Feb 27, 2014 at Kranjska Gora.
• It is the 73^rd career World Cup podium placing for Tina Maze. … her eighth at Are. … It is her fifth podium of the season and second in slalom.
• It is the 14^th career World Cup podium placing for Frida Hansdotter … her first third-place finish. She has finished second 12 times, all in slalom.
• It is also the first time Mikaela Shiffrin has finished fourth in a World Cup race. … She has been better 17 times. … It is her best slalom finish of the season.
• It is the 32^nd time Marie-Michele Gagnon has placed 11^th or better in a World Cup race … third time this season, all in slalom. … It is the third score of the season for Resi Stiegler, all in slalom. … It is the 22^nd career scoring finish for Erin Mielzynski, her first of the season.
• Tina Maze strengthens her hold on the lead of the World Cup overall standings 560-303 over Anna Fenninger (did not race). … Kathrin Zettel (15^th in race) is third overall with 290pts. … Mikaela Shiffrin is fourth with 285pts. … Lindsey Vonn (did not race) is eighth overall with 212pts and Marie-Michele Gagnon leads Canada in 19^th place overall with 103pts.
• Frida Hansdotter leads the slalom standings with 220pts. … Tina Maze is second with 209pts and Maria Pietilae-Holmner third with 200. … Shiffrin is sixth with 119pts and Gagnon eighth with 96pts.

RESULTS