The 25-year-old Camille Rast has been crowned the new slalom world champion, earning Switzerland its fourth gold medal in Saalbach-Hinterglemm. Her compatriot Wendy Holdener celebrated behind her (+0.46 sec), while the bronze medal was claimed by the Vorarlberg native Katharina Liensberger (+1.32 sec) in front of 16,700 spectators. US superstar Mikaela Shiffrin finished fifth and went home empty-handed, while Katharina Truppe landed in seventh place.

Switzerland Rides the Wave of Success at the Ski World Championships

Rast is the first Swiss slalom world champion since Vreni Schneider in 1991, also in Saalbach. Since then, there have only been two medals, one of which Holdener won with silver in 2017 in St. Moritz. "Everything has to fit for a medal, everything worked out, I am satisfied. I was mentally ready, I wanted to enjoy the whole day. The cool team spirit is very important to us in the team. A podium with Wendy, that's cool."

Liensberger Secures Medal Number Seven

For Austria, it was the seventh medal at the home World Championships. Previously, there were gold medals for Stephanie Venier (Super-G) and Raphael Haaser (Giant Slalom), as well as silver medals by Haaser (Super-G), Mirjam Puchner (Downhill), and Vincent Kriechmayr (Downhill), and bronze by Stephanie Venier/Katharina Truppe (Team Combination).

"It is so wonderful, I am so grateful. That after a long time, where it wasn't easy, especially after Cortina, it is enough for a medal again," said Liensberger, who won World Championship gold in slalom four years ago. With the attitude that she loves skiing, many things are possible. "I have certainly changed in recent years. Especially the toughest experiences help you progress the most. When you feel like nothing is working anymore."

Truppe was also satisfied, leaving with the best slalom performance of the season. "The way I skied down, it was just insanely crazy. I already felt like a little star, it gave me goosebumps, it was something so beautiful. I have never skied down with number one in the second run this year, that I did it exactly there was insane," said the Carinthian. "Certainly unforgettable, this week."

Slalom Brought Many Dropouts

Katharina Huber fell back from 13th place at halftime to 14th. "I am basically a bit of a thinker and maybe overthink a bit too much, instead of just going for it," said Huber. Katharina Gallhuber was eliminated in the first run. "It is very bitter when you are eliminated in the first run of the coolest race you can experience in an athlete's career," said the 27-year-old.

Austrian technical coach Klaus Mayrhofer came up with something special for the first ten gates. He set the combination "hairpin, hairpin, long turn, hairpin," the section and several others proved to be an insurmountable difficulty for many in the fast-paced first run. Only 45 out of 116 reached the finish. The second run also brought a flood of dropouts.

(APA/Red)

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