Press release -
Second place for Sara Hector in the Courchevel Giant Slalom
Sara Hector's first World Cup podium finish since 2014. The 28-year-old Swedish athlete finished second in the first Giant Slalom in Courchevel on Saturday.
Previously, Sara Hector had notched up two World Cup podium finishes. Both date back to December 2014. In the Giant Slalom in Aare she also finished second, while in the Giant Slalom in Kühtai she stood on top of the podium. "I'm extremely pleased, that was really great today. The conditions were very difficult because it was snowing during the race, and so we had poor visibility and an uneven slope. I just thought I'd push as hard as I could. I'm so happy, I've worked so long for this, waiting for another podium finish," said Sara Hector joyfully at the finish. After the first run the 28-year-old was in fourth place. On the second run she crossed the finish line with the second fastest time.
"If you know her story, then you'll know why this is such a cool achievement. It's an awesome result. Her service man is Reinhard Berbig, who also works for Tina Weirather. We have invested in her and it is paying off," said HEAD Racing Director Rainer Salzgeber. Also bagging points on Saturday, the Swiss athlete Lara Gut-Behrami finished ninth, Franziska Gritsch from Austria finished 14th, Elene Curtoni from Italy 17th and Ragnhild Mowinckel from Norway 20th.
The best Giant Slalom result for Lara Gut-Behrami since January 2017
Sunday's Giant Slalom was moved to Monday. Lara Gut-Behrami finished seventh to celebrate her best Giant Slalom result in the World Cup since January 2017. Sara Hector finished in 10th place, Elena Curtoni from Italy was 14th and Maria Therese Tviberg from Norway 15th. The American athlete A J Hurt achieved her best World Cup result so far finishing in 18th place. "Lara Gut-Behrami has trained well and put the focus back on the Giant Slalom. This explains her good and consistent results. I'm hoping that she will soon be racing back towards the podium in the Giant Slalom," said Rainer Salzgeber.
Alexis Pinturault is the sole leader in the overall World Cup
The HEAD team just missed the podium in the Super-G in Val d'Isere on Saturday. There were five HEAD World Cup Rebels among the top 11: Vincent Kriechmayr from Austria finished in fifth place, Kjetil Jansrud from Norway in sixth place, Alexis Pinturault from France was seventh, Beat Feuz from Switzerland tenth and Matthias Mayer from Austria eleventh. "Unfortunately, I made a mistake at a tricky point on the run, and that held me back. Otherwise, the rest of the run went quite well," explained Vincent Kriechmayr.
Finishing in fifth place, Johan Clarey was the best HEAD World Cup Rebel in the Downhill in Val d'Isere on Sunday. Just behind the French athlete was Beat Feuz from Switzerland. Matthias Mayer was in eighth place and Ralph Weber from Switzerland 16th. In the World Cup overall ranking, Alexis Pinturault is now the sole leader with 276 points.
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