Fenninger on a roll in Germany

By Published On: March 9th, 2013Comments Off on Fenninger on a roll in Germany

After a somewhat shaky performance in the World Championships, during which she had to leave town to escape the pressure, Anna Fenninger is stepping it up and closing out the season in dominant fashion.

Fastest after the first run, fastest after the second, the 23-year-old Austrian won her second race in a row — she stormed to a win in the Garmisch super G last weekend — clocking the fastest combined time of 2:29.39 in Saturday’s GS in Ofterschwang, Germany.

Fenninger was able to harness some of her speed skills to take the lead after the first run, which was fast and wide-open with jumps and other terrain features. The second leg, held under gloomy, flat-light conditions, was quite a bit more technical. The Austrian kicked out of the start with a mere three-hundredths of a second advantage over this season’s soon-to-be giant slalom titlist, Tina Maze, but the young challenger was immediately able to increase that margin and carry it through the finish, where she collapsed upon securing the win.

With host-nation favorite, Maria Hoefl-Riesch skiing a too-conservative second run and falling well out of podium contention, all eyes turned to Viktoria Rebensburg, who did not disappoint. After losing some time on the leader’s pace at the top, the German charged the lower part of the second run and was comfortably able to retain her podium position by more than a second.

The omnipresent Maze — who is coming off an historic weekend in which she not only became just the third athlete to win all five disciplines in a single season, but also surpassed the 2000-point record set by Hermann Maier — skied an aggressive run to set a high standard for Fenninger. The Slovenian started the season with four-straight GS wins, but she’s now finished runner-up in the event (behind several different winners) in the last four competitions, including the World Championships in Schladming.  

Julia Mancuso celebrated her 29th birthday, doing the thing she does best. The American was fourth after the first run and charged out of the gate in the second, but gradually lost time on the leader’s pace throughout the run. She finished eighth on the day.

“It was a really good start, a step in the right direction for GS for me,” said Mancuso, who has been playing with her ski all season. “I still need to make two good runs, but I’m happy. They did a good job of keeping the course OK. It was actually one of the better surfaces we had this year. Second run was a lot turnier, so it deteriorated more. It was difficult starting in the back.”

Mikaela Shiffrin, the leader in the slalom standings, had difficulties in the first run and went out.

Story by Geoff Mintz
Photos by GEPA

The SCOOP
by Hank McKee

Women’s World Cup GS, Ofterschwang, Germany, March 9, 2013
Equipment

Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Fenninger, Head/Head/Head
2 Maze, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic
3 Rebensburg, Nordica/Nordica/Marker
4 Brem, Voelkl/Fischer/Marker
5 Marmottan, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
6 Barthet, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
7 Fanchini, Dynastar/Lange/Look
8 Mancuso, Head/Head/Head
9 Kirchgasser, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
10 Hronek, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer

Women’s World Cup GS, Ofterschwang, Germany, March 9, 2013. … It is the final weekend of the regular season and the 32nd race of the women’s 37 race schedule. … the eighth of nine GS’s. … It is the 15th Cup race hosted by Ofterschwang, 13th for women all since 2001.

It is the fourth career World Cup win for Anna Fenninger and third in GS. … It is her third win of the season and second in March.

It is the 59th career World Cup podium placing for Tina Maze. … her 24th in GS. … It is her third podium scored at Ofterschwang. … It is her 24th podium result of the season (including three at World Championships) and bumps her record point total to 2074 with five races remaining.

It is the 18th career World Cup podium for Viktoria Rebensburg, 16th in GS. … It is her third podium scored at Ofterschwang, the other two wins on consecutive days last season. … It is her fifth podium of the season and fourth this season in GS.

It is the 126th career top 10 for Julia Mancuso and her ninth of the season including three from World Championships. … It is her second best finish ever at Ofterschwang. … It is the third best result of Marie-Pier Prefontaine’s career. … Her second best of the season. … It is the 50th career scoring result for Marie-Michele Gagnon. … 18th in GS.

Tina Maze extends her record setting point total in the World Cup Overall rankings and leads 2154-1065 over Maria Hoefl-Riesch (16th in race). … Fenninger is third with 984pts. … Maze cannot be beaten for the overall title. … Maze leads the GS standings 700-435 with one race remaining over Fenninger and cannot be beaten for the title. … Kathrin Zettel (DNF 1st in race) is third in the GS standings with 382pts. … Mancuso tops the US in 11th with 154pts. … Gagnon tops Canada in 22nd with 104pts. … Austria leads the women’s Nations Cup 4517-3321 over the US. … Germany is third with 2568pts and Canada ninth with 658pts.

Results
Ofterschwang (GER)
FIS World Cup
Ladies’ Giant Slalom

Rank Bib    Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time
 1  5 FENNINGER Anna  1989  AUT   1:11.84  1:17.55  2:29.39
 2  1 MAZE Tina  1983  SLO   1:11.87  1:17.96  2:29.83
 3  2 REBENSBURG Viktoria  1989  GER   1:12.38  1:17.97  2:30.35
 4  19 BREM Eva-Maria  1988  AUT   1:13.99  1:17.46  2:31.45
 5  22 MARMOTTAN Anemone  1988  FRA   1:14.87  1:17.01  2:31.88
 6  27 BARTHET Anne-Sophie  1988  FRA   1:14.14  1:17.97  2:32.11
 7  23 FANCHINI Nadia  1986  ITA   1:14.44  1:17.69  2:32.13
 8  14 MANCUSO Julia  1984  USA   1:13.09  1:19.15  2:32.24
 9  17 KIRCHGASSER Michaela  1985  AUT   1:14.23  1:18.06  2:32.29
 10  37 HRONEK Veronique  1991  GER   1:14.64  1:17.66  2:32.30
 11  16 CURTONI Irene  1985  ITA   1:14.30  1:18.14  2:32.44
 12  43 CURTONI Elena  1991  ITA   1:15.22  1:17.32  2:32.54
 13  41 WEIRATHER Tina  1989  LIE   1:15.46  1:17.15  2:32.61
 14  10 HANSDOTTER Frida  1985  SWE   1:14.29  1:18.37  2:32.66
 15  28 PREFONTAINE Marie-Pier  1988  CAN   1:15.25  1:17.47  2:32.72
 16  21 KARBON Denise  1980  ITA   1:14.31  1:18.44  2:32.75
 16  6 HOEFL-RIESCH Maria  1984  GER   1:13.47  1:19.28  2:32.75
 18  20 DREV Ana  1985  SLO   1:14.41  1:18.54  2:32.95
 19  12 GUT Lara  1991  SUI   1:15.04  1:18.13  2:33.17
 20  9 GISIN Dominique  1985  SUI   1:14.51  1:18.67  2:33.18
 21  36 KLING Kajsa  1988  SWE   1:14.62  1:18.61  2:33.23
 22  38 LOESETH Nina  1989  NOR   1:15.14  1:18.10  2:33.24
 23  24 PIETILAE-HOLMNER Maria  1986  SWE   1:15.28  1:18.00  2:33.28
 24  13 KOEHLE Stefanie  1986  AUT   1:14.54  1:18.79  2:33.33
 25  8 GOERGL Elisabeth  1981  AUT   1:13.34  1:20.05  2:33.39
 26  25 BERTRAND Marion  1984  FRA   1:14.23  1:19.17  2:33.40
 27  32 HOESL Simona  1992  GER   1:15.38  1:18.08  2:33.46
 27  3 WORLEY Tessa  1989  FRA   1:14.20  1:19.26  2:33.46
 29  35 HECTOR Sara  1992  SWE   1:14.99  1:18.68  2:33.67
 30  18 GAGNON Marie-Michele  1989  CAN   1:13.45  1:20.91  2:34.36
Did not qualify for 2nd run
   65 SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena  1984  ARG       
   64 JELINKOVA Adriana  1995  NED       
   63 HORVAT Katja  1993  SLO       
   62 SIMARI BIRKNER Maria Belen  1982  ARG       
   61 KANTOROVA Barbara  1992  SVK       
   60 ASTAPENKO Daria  1994  RUS       
   59 ROSS Laurenne  1988  USA       
   58 GASIENICA DANIEL Agnieszka  1987  POL       
   57 SUTER Fabienne  1985  SUI       
   55 FILSER Andrea  1993  GER       
   54 SCHNEEBERGER Rosina  1994  AUT       
   53 SUTER Jasmina  1995  SUI       
   52 LAVTAR Katarina  1988  SLO       
   50 SWENN-LARSSON Anna  1991  SWE       
   49 HOLDENER Wendy  1993  SUI       
   48 DIREZ Clara  1995  FRA       
   46 RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina  1981  SPA       
   45 STIEGLER Resi  1985  USA       
   44 MIRADOLI Romane  1994  FRA       
   42 ROBNIK Tina  1991  SLO       
   40 HOFER Anna  1988  ITA       
   39 FRASSE SOMBET Coralie  1991  FRA       
   34 WIRTH Barbara  1989  GER       
   33 LOESETH Mona  1991  NOR       
   30 AGERER Lisa Magdalena  1991  ITA       
   29 SEJERSTED Lotte Smiseth  1991  NOR       
   26 DUERR Lena  1991  GER       
Did not finish 1st run
   56 ALPHAND Estelle  1995  FRA       
   51 PAULATHOVA Katerina  1993  CZE       
   47 AZZOLA Michela  1991  ITA       
   31 SIEBENHOFER Ramona  1991  AUT       
   15 POUTIAINEN Tanja  1980  FIN       
   11 SHIFFRIN Mikaela  1995  USA       
   7 ZETTEL Kathrin  1986  AUT       
   4 LINDELL-VIKARBY Jessica  1984  SWE       

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About the Author: Geoff Mintz

Geoff Mintz is a former alpine ski racer who cut his teeth at Ragged Mountain and Waterville Valley, N.H. After graduating from Holderness and UVM, he relocated to Colorado, where he worked on the hill prior to pursuing a career in journalism. Mintz served as associate editor for Ski Racing Media from 2011 to 2015. He later reconnected with his local roots to manage all marketing and communications for Ski & Snowboard Club Vail before resuming work at SRM as editor-in-chief.