ALPINE SKI WORLD CUP. After the cancellation of the super G on Saturday, the weather for today’s ladies giant slalom in St. Moritz was partially sunny but still quite windy. The wind picked up around noon and the start of the second run had to be delayed twice but was eventually carried out with a one hour delay.

France's Tessa Worley speeds down the course on her way to win an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom race, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Sunday, Dec,12, 2010. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)

In the first run the German duo Viktoria Rebensburg and Kathrin Hoelzl led the way. The two German skiers already finished on the podium in the first two giant slaloms of the season. Olympic champion Rebensburg was ahead of her teammate and world champion Kathrin Hoelzl. Tina Maze (SLO) and Tanja Poutiainen (FIN) followed in third. France’s Tessa Worley lurked in fifth position .63 seconds behind Rebensburg.

However today’s race took a few unexpected turns and at the end it was Tessa Worley again who claimed the victory, her second one this season and the fourth one of her competitive career. As already in Aspen, Tessa Worley decided the race in her favor by the minimum margin of a hundredth of a second.

The usual suspects Riesch, Vonn, Mancuso or Goergl were all defeated today by Worley. Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen ended up in second and Slovenia’s Tina Maze finished in third.

The two Germans Victoria Rebensburg and Kathrin Hölzl, who were in the lead after the first run underperformed in the second run. Hoelzl was a DNF and Rebensburg only finished in 10th place after a faulty second run.

“When I got to the finish I was content. I knew I would be placed no worse than 5th. Of course, it was great that I claimed the first place then in the end. I hope to be able to maintain the level I have all the way through to the World Championships in Garmisch,” Worley commented on her performance today. “I definitely had a good preparation going into the season but it also helps to do well as a team. We currently have a good team spirit and that shows in the results. We had a first, fourth and sixth place today. We are the same members on the team for more or less three years now and we got to know each other really well in this time. We can help each other and push each other to get better as individuals and as a whole team”, Worley added.

FISalpine.com
Sunday 12 December 2010