Brignone Wins as Holdener Locks Up Alpine Combined Globe

By Published On: March 4th, 2018Comments Off on Brignone Wins as Holdener Locks Up Alpine Combined Globe

Spring was in the air at the second and final alpine combined of the women’s World Cup season, a sure sign that winter is coming to a close. The discipline globe was on the line, and the field left everything they had on the hill. While Italy’s Federica Brignone walked away with the win, Wendy Holdener of Switzerland earned the second alpine combined globe of her career in front of a home crowd by coming in fourth place.

The victory marked Brignone’s third of the season after a GS win in Lienz, Austria, and a super-G win in Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria. The Italian has a history of strong performances at Crans Montana. She has been on the podium in every World Cup alpine combined she has started in at this venue including another victory in February 2017. Brignone is the only Italian woman to have won a World Cup in this discipline.

“It’s always amazing to win,” Brignone said. “For sure, to be on the podium is really good and winning is amazing, and I’m happy. I don’t know. Somebody doesn’t like the alpine combined, but for me, it’s really not easy to be good in super-G or downhill and good at slalom at the same time….It’s a fun race. You never know who is winning.”

Alpine combined is likely on its way to the graveyard. At the annual FIS meetings in May, officials discussed a draft schedule for the 2020-21 World Cup season with zero alpine combined races, meaning it could disappear before the next Winter Olympic Games.

Federica Brignone and her team celebrate her win. // Image credit: GEPA / Mario Buehner

For now, it lives on and World Cup points are on the line. Brignone bested the the newly crowned Olympic gold medalist in this discipline, Michelle Gisin of Switzerland, who took second place and was just 0.03 seconds away from the win.

“That was the most important, to confirm that amazing race of Pyeongchang,” Gisin said. “I’m so happy I’m so close, actually, even to the victory, which would be my first World Cup victory. But I’m so, so happy after not that good super-G to recover that well in slalom with the fastest time in second run. That’s almost a little crazy. I’m so happy for that.”

Gisin’s two results in alpine combined this season were also good enough to end up second in the discipline standings. The Swiss have historically dominated this event. No country has won more women’s World Cup alpine combined races than Switzerland with 28 wins.

Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova rounded out the podium in third place, a solid performance for her first World Cup race in this discipline. That’s not to say she has never competed in the event before. Vlhova raced in the Olympic alpine combined in PyeongChang, where she was fifth.

Petra Vlhova of Slovakia skis to her first World Cup podium in alpine combined. // Image credit: GEPA / Mario Buehner

After a solid 12th-place super-G run in Switzerland, the Slovakian used her slalom skills to move up nine spots. She was just 0.09 seconds away from the win.

“I’m really happy that I did a fast run in super-G because I train really not so much, but I’m really happy that I did first podium in alpine combined,” Vlhova said.

Given that she did not race the only other alpine combined this season, Vlhova was not in contention for the discipline globe. However, she is ranked second in the current World Cup slalom standings with 605 points, with only 175 points between her and American Mikaela Shiffrin. There are two slalom races left this season, so there is a remote possibility that Vlhova could take home the discipline globe. Vlhova also indicated that she is interested in becoming an overall contender, competing in more alpine combined and more super-G in future seasons.

“Yeah, we want to try some more disciplines, but we need to go step by step,” Vlhova said. “But, of course, in the next year, we will try to do more alpine combined, maybe more super-G, and then we will see.”

Shiffrin did not compete in the super-G or alpine combined in Crans Montana. In fact, there were no Americans or Canadians on Sunday’s results. The U.S. Ski Team’s Alice Merryweather was slated to start, but fell ill.

Shiffrin plans to return to World Cup racing next week in Ofterschwang, Germany, for the slalom and giant slalom on March 9 and 10.


Top 10

  1. Federica Brignone (ITA) – Rossignol / Look / Rossignol
  2. Michelle Gisin (SUI) –  Rossignol / Look / Rossignol
  3. Petra Vlhova (SVK) – Rossignol / Look / Rossignol
  4. Wendy Holdener (SUI) –  Head / Head / Head
  5. Stephanie Brunner (USA) –  Head / Head / Head
  6. Ragnhid Mowinckel (NOR) – Head / Head / Head
  7. Rahel Kopp (SUI) –  Rossignol / Look / Rossignol
  8. Sofia Goggia (ITA) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
  9. Ricarda Haaser (AUT) – Fischer / Fischer / Fischer
  10. Priska Nufer (SUI) – Dynastar / Lange / Look

Official Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time Diff. FIS Points WC Points
 1  5  297601 BRIGNONE Federica 1990 ITA  1:04.61  41.86  1:46.47  0.00  100
 2  9  516284 GISIN Michelle 1993 SUI  1:05.23  41.27  1:46.50  +0.03  0.32  80
 3  18  705423 VLHOVA Petra 1995 SVK  1:05.01  41.55  1:46.56  +0.09  0.97  60
 4  7  516280 HOLDENER Wendy 1993 SUI  1:04.84  41.89  1:46.73  +0.26  2.81  50
 5  21  56217 BRUNNER Stephanie 1994 AUT  1:04.61  42.24  1:46.85  +0.38  4.10  45
 6  15  425929 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild 1992 NOR  1:04.19  42.71  1:46.90  +0.43  4.64  40
 7  29  516344 KOPP Rahel 1994 SUI  1:04.99  42.12  1:47.11  +0.64  6.91  36
 8  2  298323 GOGGIA Sofia 1992 ITA  1:03.70  43.50  1:47.20  +0.73  7.88  32
 9  4  56174 HAASER Ricarda 1993 AUT  1:04.27  43.68  1:47.95  +1.48  15.99  29
 10  8  516219 NUFER Priska 1992 SUI  1:05.10  42.95  1:48.05  +1.58  17.07  26
 11  31  56417 FEST Nadine 1998 AUT  1:05.57  42.50  1:48.07  +1.60  17.28  24
 12  11  515997 FEIERABEND Denise 1989 SUI  1:05.77  42.44  1:48.21  +1.74  18.79  22
 13  13  56087 SIEBENHOFER Ramona 1991 AUT  1:05.03  43.19  1:48.22  +1.75  18.90  20
 14  27  56198 SCHEYER Christine 1994 AUT  1:04.95  43.33  1:48.28  +1.81  19.55  18
 15  19  565320 FERK Marusa 1988 SLO  1:05.27  43.27  1:48.54  +2.07  22.36  16
 16  17  315187 IGNJATOVIC Nevena 1990 SRB  1:05.27  43.35  1:48.62  +2.15  23.22  15
 17  22  296427 SCHNARF Johanna 1984 ITA  1:04.94  44.12  1:49.06  +2.59  27.98  14
 18  12  299466 DELAGO Nicol 1996 ITA  1:03.94  45.13  1:49.07  +2.60  28.08  13
 19  23  206520 DORSCH Patrizia 1994 GER  1:05.23  43.99  1:49.22  +2.75  29.70  12
 20  24  516429 GROEBLI Nathalie 1996 SUI  1:05.28  44.08  1:49.36  +2.89  31.22  11
 21  25  426257 LIE Kajsa Vickhoff 1998 NOR  1:05.97  43.94  1:49.91  +3.44  37.16  10
 22  33  506701 HOERNBLAD Lisa 1996 SWE  1:05.69  44.23  1:49.92  +3.45  37.26  9
 23  3  299276 BASSINO Marta 1996 ITA  1:05.46  44.61  1:50.07  +3.60  38.88  8
 24  6  56258 AGER Christina 1995 AUT  1:05.26  44.93  1:50.19  +3.72  40.18  7
 25  1  565401 BUCIK Ana 1993 SLO  1:06.24  43.97  1:50.21  +3.74  40.40  6
 26  10  197641 GAUCHE Laura 1995 FRA  1:05.50  45.05  1:50.55  +4.08  44.07  5
 27  14  56177 VENIER Stephanie 1993 AUT  1:04.85  45.71  1:50.56  +4.09  44.18  4
 28  37  197861 PASLIER Esther 1997 FRA  1:05.09  45.94  1:51.03  +4.56  49.25  3
 29  35  206460 WENIG Michaela 1992 GER  1:06.00  45.35  1:51.35  +4.88  52.71  2
 30  36  435334 GASIENICA-DANIEL Maryna 1994 POL  1:06.29  45.07  1:51.36  +4.89  52.82  1
 31  26  155699 PAULATHOVA Katerina 1993 CZE  1:07.13  45.24  1:52.37  +5.90  63.73  0
 32  42  155586 KMOCHOVA Tereza 1990 CZE  1:08.33  45.23  1:53.56  +7.09  76.58  0
 33  41  35089 SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena 1984 ARG  1:07.43  46.48  1:53.91  +7.44  80.36  0
Did not finish 2nd run
 39  516373 FLUETSCH Luana 1995 SUI  1:05.72  0
 38  206668 WEIDLE Kira 1996 GER  1:06.30  0
 34  206652 PFISTER Meike 1996 GER  1:06.09  0
 32  56392 GRITSCH Franziska 1997 AUT  1:06.32  0
 30  516185 HAEHLEN Joana 1992 SUI  1:05.21  0
 20  197497 MIRADOLI Romane 1994 FRA  1:05.48  0
Did not start 2nd run
 40  506718 IVARSSON Lin 1996 SWE  1:05.71  0
Did not finish 1st run
 43  35079 SIMARI BIRKNER Maria Belen 1982 ARG  0
 16  298767 SOSIO Federica 1994 ITA  0
Did not start 1st run
 28  6535600 MERRYWEATHER Alice 1996 USA  0

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About the Author: Gabbi Hall

A California native, Gabbi moved to Vermont to ski on the NCAA circuit for St. Michael’s College, where she served as team captain and studied journalism. Before joining Ski Racing, she worked as a broadcast TV producer and social media manager in higher education. She can be reached via email at gabbi@skiracing.com