Press release -
First World Cup podium for A J Hurt with bib number 38
Four HEAD Worldcup Rebels in the top six in the Slalom in Kranjska Gora on Sunday! A J Hurt finishes third with bib number 38 to step up onto the World Cup podium for the first time. Lena Dürr is ahead of her in second place, with Camille Rast behind her in fourth place. Sara Hector rounds off an awesome performance by the HEAD team in sixth place. Atle Lie McGrath celebrates his first podium of the season on Sunday by finishing second in the Slalom in Adelboden. Lara Gut-Behrami continues her run of success in the Giant Slalom by finishing in second place in Kranjska Gora on Saturday.
"Atle Lie McGrath was injured with a torn cruciate ligament eleven months ago and now he's back on the podium in the Slalom only a couple of hundredths of a second away from first place. He also had the podium well within reach in the Giant Slalom. He has got his confidence back and is gaining ground fast. In the Slalom he really let rip and skied all-out. Things are looking very positive here,"says HEAD Racing Director Rainer Salzgeber. "Second, third and fourth place in the Slalom in Kranjska Gora are as good as a victory for us, that was super cool. We achieved that even though we were missing Wendy Holdener and Anna Swenn-Larsson dropped out. A J Hurt has been part of the team for several years and we were hoping that she would reach the top. She has already come up with some promising results in recent races, but this podium is a real dream. Lena Dürr skied another great race, while Lara Gut-Behrami again delivered a great result in the Giant Slalom. She is fully dialled into the Giant Slalom World Cup. This is a very sound basis for us."
A J Hurt stops the clock with the fastest second run
Starting with bib number 38 and reaching 16th place on the first run, A J Hurt managed to snatch her first podium in the World Cup with the fastest time on the second run. Previously, her best World Cup result was ninth place in the Giant Slalom in Tremblant in December 2023. In the Slalom, the 23-year-old US athlete's previous personal best was 25th place in Courchevel, also in December 2023. Lena Dürr finished second to bag her fourth podium of the season in the Slalom. After the first run, the German athlete was already in second place. Camille Rast achieved her best World Cup result in an individual event in fourth place. The Swiss athlete started the second run in eleventh place and moved up seven places with the sixth best time. Sara Hector from Sweden finished in sixth place and Dzenifera Germane from Latvia was twelfth. This was the 20-year-old Latvian athlete's third World Cup race and her best result so far following one DNF and a 22nd place. Franziska Gritsch from Austria was 17th and Jessica Hilzinger from Germany finished in 20th place.
"It's great I can ski fast even in these conditions"
Two victories and two second places - Lara Gut-Behrami already has four podiums in the Giant Slalom this season. In Kranjska Gora she was third on the first run. With the fifth-fastest time on run two, the 32-year-old finished second overall. In terms of the World Cup in this discipline, Lara Gut-Behrami is now just 15 points behind the leader, Federica Brignone. "We were all amazed at how well the run had been prepared. The first run felt nice and light. The snow was perfect. By the second run, there were a few more ruts," is how the Swiss athlete analysed the conditions at the finish. "Everything considered, it was a bit of a challenge. Normally you can focus on skiing, but today it was more like looking for an umbrella. My takeaway will be the positive feeling I had on the snow, although these are certainly not the conditions I like best. Soft snow is really not my thing, but it's great that I can now ski fast even in these conditions. I hope I don't see rain again for the rest of my career!"
Franziska Gritsch's best result of the season so far
Another top result was delivered by Sara Hector, who finished in sixth place in the Giant Slalom, and Franziska Gritsch was delighted with her best result of the season so far. The Austrian athlete finished in seventh place behind Sara Hector. Emma Aicher also had reason to celebrate. The German athlete started the day with bib number 53 and raced to her best result in the Giant Slalom in 15th place, clocking the fourth fastest time on the second run. A J Hurt finished in 18th place, Ragnhild Mowinckel from Norway was 21st and Elisa Platino from Italy 26th.
Atle Lie McGrath misses victory by two hundredths of a second
Following his comeback, Atle Lie McGrath is now back on absolute top form. At the traditional Slalom event on the Chuenisbärgli run in Adelboden, the Norwegian athlete raced to second place - just like last year. The 23-year-old was already in second place on the first run, missing a third World Cup victory by just two hundredths of a second. "It was really cool and extremely close. I'm very satisfied with my skiing because I feel strong and it was great fun. Today has gone very well and I'm already looking forward to Wengen!". World Cup points were also collected by Albert Popov from Bulgaria in 15th place, Tobias Kastlunger from Italy who finished 16th, and Johannes Strolz from Austria in 18th place.
Atle Lie McGrath is also the best HEAD athlete in the Giant Slalom
In the Giant Slalom in Adelboden on Saturday, Atle Lie McGrath was the best HEAD Worldcup Rebel in seventh place. Also in the top 15 were Alexander Schmid from Germany in tenth place and Justin Murisier from Switzerland who finished 13th. World Cup points were also picked up by Tommy Ford from the USA and Patrick Feurstein from Austria in 17th and 18th place.
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