A long haul to the finish: Eva-Maria Brem wins GS in Jasna

One word to describe the Jasna World Cup tech races: long. Long courses. Long weekend. Longing for good weather. On Monday, the Slovakian venue was able to pull of the giant slalom race thanks to the wind and fog that held off – the factor that caused Saturday’s race to be canceled.

As athletes came through the finish, you could see the exhaustion on their faces after the final pitch had taken every ounce of energy from their legs. Giant slalom points leader Eva-Maria Brem of Austria proved why she wore the red bib, winning the race with a combined time of 2:30.60.

“I was adapting from first to last gate and I’m not sure if I did it right, but who cares?” Brem said gleefully. “I won here in Jasna.”

Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg won the second run, moving up from her 12th-place ranking on the first go around. She ultimately landed 0.27 seconds behind Brem.

“We didn’t find the right set up for the first run, so I was struggling hard for sure,” Rebensburg commented. “I couldn’t really ski the way I wanted to ski, and I changed it to the second run. And for sure, on the one side I was really happy that I could make up so many spots now to second place, but on the other side for sure I’m a bit disappointed that we couldn’t really find the right one for the first run. It’s better not to think about it, what could have happened.”

The German was followed by Federica Brignone of Italy, who skied 0.52 seconds off of the winning pace.

“I’m really happy to be here in Jasna,” the Italian reminisced. “This is where I did my first podium and only one in a Europa Cup. I like the slope. I like the snow. The preparation was perfect. The crowd was perfect. I’m really happy to be here and to have a good race.”

Switzerland’s Lara Gut finished just off the podium in fourth place, moving her into the lead in the overall standings, officially ahead of the U.S. Ski Team’s Lindsey Vonn (who suffered a season-ending injury last week). Viktoria Rebensburg sits in third in the overall standings, over 250 points behind Lara Gut. 

American Michaela Shiffrin hopped back into giant slalom for the first time since her injury, ending up in 14th place.

“It’s kind of an assessment of my GS skiing, in that I haven’t had a lot of time on the skis, and I don’t feel comfortable with my timing at all,” she said of the day. “I just don’t feel comfortable getting them out from under me and trusting them to come back.”

Two other Americans in the race, Resi Stiegler and Megan McJames, did not qualify for the second run. 

Austrian Michaela Kirchgasser got awkwardly caught on her outside ski in a turn and crashed into the fence in the first run. She was able to ski down on her own but was taken from the finish area in an emergency vehicle and transported back to Innsbruck, Austria, where she will have her left knee evaluated. She is currently fifth in the alpine combined standings, just 27 points behind the leaders, with only the approaching weekend’s race left to go.

The women head to Switzerland now for a super G and alpine combined at Lenzerheide, starting March 12.

The Scoop
by Hank McKee

1. Brem, Volkl/Fischer/Marker
2. Rebensburg, Stoeckli/Lange/Look
3. Brignone, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
4. Gut, Head/Head/Head
5. Bassino, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
6. Gagnon, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
7. Mowinckel, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
8. Brunner, Head/Head/Head
9. Curtoni, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
10. Hansdotter, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

• Women’s World Cup giant slalom, Jasna, Slovakia, March 7, 2016. … This race was originally scheduled March 5, and postponed due to high winds. … It is the 34^th race of the women’s 41 race schedule and the eighth of nine scheduled GSs. … It is the seventh World Cup race hosted by Jasna, and second for women and the first women’s GS.
• It is the third career World Cup win for Eva-Maria Brem, all in GS. … It is her second win of the season after taking Courchevel Dec. 20. … The winning margin is 0.27 of a second. … Top four skiers are within the same second. … Top 18 within two seconds. … She is the only Austrian woman to win a World Cup this season.
• It is the 30^th career World Cup podium result for Viktoria Rebensburg. … Her seventh of the season and fourth of the season in GS.
• It is the 13^th career World Cup podium for Federica Brignone, her sixth of the season and fifth of the season in GS.
• It is the 21^st career top six World Cup placing for Marie-Michele Gagnon. … Her fourth of the season and second at Jasna. … It is the 19^th best of 22 World Cup GS results for Mikaela Shiffrin.
• Lara Gut (fourth in race) passes Lindsey Vonn (did not race) to take the lead of the World Cup overall standings 1257-1235. … Rebensburg is third overall at 994.
• Brem leads the GS standings 542-490 over Rebensburg. … Gut is third in GS with 412 and cannot win the discipline title.
• Austria leads the women’s Nations Cup 3901-3666 over Italy. … Switzerland is third with 3262. … The U.S. is fourth at 2764 and Canada eighth with 1200 pts.

Official Results