Camille Rast ahead of everyone in the first heat of the slalom in Semmering (Austria) which completes the World Cup program for the calendar year: the Swiss already on the podium in giant slalom leads with a time of 54″70 and a margin of just nine hundredths over Lara Colturi, with Katharina Liensberger third at 0″34 followed by Mikaela Shiffrin, fourth at 0″54.
On a decidedly marked track which caused the gaps to widen, Lara Della Mea did well to defend herself with bib number 20 to snatch the thirteenth partial time, 3″06 behind Rast, a gap of 4″14 for Martina Peterlini who in turn earned the qualification thanks to the twenty-first position; However, Beatrice Sola, Emilia Mondinelli, Giorgia Collomb, Giulia Valleriani and debutant Giada D’Antonio left, having to face racing conditions bordering on the prohibitive.
“A very strange slalom – were Lara Della Mea’s immediate impressions – because the surface was hard, but the track was very marked and therefore it wasn’t easy to ski. I did my best and I will try to recover something in the second run”.
For Martina Peterlini, Semmering was perhaps “One of the most difficult heats done so far, not so much because of the track, but because of the response of the terrain which didn’t give a feeling and a visibility that didn’t allow you to see the mark well. You had to trust yourself to leave your foot and exploit all the response of the ski, which I did only partially but I hope to start among the leaders in the second because I believe that good recoveries are possible”.
For sixteen-year-old Neapolitan Giada D’Antonio, the Semmering slalom was her first contact with the World Cup. These are the impressions of the 2009 class of the Vesuvio Ski Club: “There was an intense moment there at the gate, with a bit of anxiety. It was more tension than fear: there was a stat/stop right before my race and I collected myself a little. I wanted to get to the end, but the track was very ruined and I tried to do a couple of tricks. I tried to give up but it didn’t work. Even the warm-up wasn’t easy, let’s say we adapted to the condition in the race. I feel a lot of support and I am grateful for all this. The debut in the World Cup is never forgotten and regardless of the result I am happy to be here. I wanted my family to be close to me at this moment: this debut makes me think that you can really think big and achieve big goals.”
The second heat is scheduled to start at 5.45pm.
Order of arrival Women’s SL Cdm Semmering (Aut)
