Holdener and Gisin treat home crowd to stunning alpine combined performances

By Published On: February 10th, 2017Comments Off on Holdener and Gisin treat home crowd to stunning alpine combined performances

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland — Snow fell lightly all day on Friday and flat light plagued the Engiadina slope for the women’s alpine combined. Due to the ever changing fog at the top of the course, FIS officials decided to lower the downhill start to the super-G start.

Despite the change, the race started on time, and Italian Sofia Goggia took the lead in the downhill run ahead of Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec. Switzerland’s Lara Gut sat in third, and her teammate Michelle Gisin was just behind in fourth. Things looked good for Gisin and Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener, who was in seventh place, heading into the slalom run as they are both primarily tech skiers.

Both athletes skied stunning slalom runs. Holdener took the win, becoming the women’s Alpine Combined World Champion. Gisin was just 0.05 seconds behind to take the silver medal. This is the first time that two Swiss athletes have gone 1-2 in a World Championships race since 1989. Rounding out the podium was Austrian veteran Michaela Kirchgasser, 0.38 seconds out in third place.

While there’s no doubt this was a huge moment for the winner, it was also a big moment for her home country. Holdener has also broken a long drought for Switzerland, becoming the first World Champion from Switzerland since Sonja Nef in 2001, and also the first Swiss athlete to win a world title on home snow in three decades.

SANKT MORITZ,SWITZERLAND,10.FEB.17 - ALPINE SKIING - FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, alpine combined, slalom, ladies. Image shows Wendy Holdener (SUI). Photo: GEPA pictures/ Christian Walgram“It feels great,” she shared. “I mean, I think I’m not believing it right now. It’s like, ‘What?’ But I enjoy every moment of it because I had a big disappointment in Stockholm, so it’s so nice.”

This is Holdener’s fourth World Championships and first podium. Holdener appeared to be overjoyed to share the podium with her teammate. The pair could barely stop hugging and smiling.

St. Moritz is Gisin’s third World Championships and the alpine combined is her first ever World Championship medal. She has only podiumed in one World Cup, the 2016 alpine combined in Val d’Isere, France.

“There were doubts, there were a lot of nerves; I didn’t sleep a lot last night,” Gisin said. “I woke up at five and tried to stay calm, but it was so difficult. Now it’s done, and I haven’t realized it yet, and it’s just amazing to have a double podium with Wendy. Could it get any better and more amazing in front of the home crowd? I don’t think so. We were on the podium together a long, long time ago at a national race for kids; I remember meeting Wendy there for the first time, we’ve been through a lot since then.”

St. Moritz marks Kirchgasser’s sixth World Championships, and this result is a repeat of her performance in the alpine combined at the Vail/Beaver Creek World Championships in 2015.

“It’s crazy,” the Austrian said. “I mean after the downhill, I knew it would be really challenging, and then, I just made the mistake at the third and fourth gate and I was like ‘I have to push now.’”

Kirchgasser added that waiting in the finish after her run is the worst part because you cannot control what happens next, but when she knew she got third, she was happy.

Vonn led for the Americans, coming in fifth place. Laurenne Ross found her way onto the top page of results, coming in 15th place.

ST. MORITZ, SWITZERLAND Ð FEBRUARY 10: Laurenne Ross of USA competes during the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships Women's Alpine Combined on February 10, 2017 in St. Moritz, Switzerland (Photo by Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom)“It was a battle,” Ross said. “It was a little wild; I might have gone on my bum once but it was pretty fun. I made it down, which is kind of amazing considering the run. You can hear (the crowd) from the start; it’s really cool, such good energy and it’s really motivating and inspiring, it’s awesome.”

Stacey Cook was the only other American racing, coming in 24th place. The Canadians were led by Marie-Michele Gagnon in sixth place, her best World Championships result to date. Valerie Grenier made an impressive jump from bib 43 to 11th place. Candace Crawford finished the day in 21st place and Mikaela Tommy did not finish.

Goggia and Stuhec both did not finish the slalom run. Gut was injured during slalom training between runs and has been diagnosed with a knee injury.

World Championship racing continues with the men’s downhill on Saturday, Feb. 11 and the women’s downhill on Sunday, Feb. 12.

View more of the action in the photo gallery here. 


Top 10

  1. Wendy Holdener (SUI) – Head / Head / Head
  2. Michelle Gisin (SUI) – Rossignol / Look / Rossignol
  3. Michaela Kirchgasser (AUT) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
  4. Denise Feierabend (SUI) – Head / Head / Head
  5. Lindsey Vonn (USA)  – Head / Head / Head
  6. Marie-Michele Gagnon (CAN) – Rossignol / Look / Rossignol
  7. Federica Brignone (ITA) – Rossignol / Look / Rossignol
  8. Marusa Ferk (SLO) – Stoeckli / Salomon / Head
  9. Ricarda Haaser (AUT) – Fischer / Fischer / Fischer
  10. Raghnild Mowinckel (NOR) – Head / Head / Head

Official Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time Diff. FIS Points
 1  7  516280 HOLDENER Wendy 1993 SUI  1:17.84  41.04  1:58.88  0.00
 2  13  516284 GISIN Michelle 1993 SUI  1:17.47  41.46  1:58.93  +0.05  0.48
 3  3  55759 KIRCHGASSER Michaela 1985 AUT  1:18.23  41.03  1:59.26  +0.38  3.68
 4  15  515997 FEIERABEND Denise 1989 SUI  1:18.38  41.32  1:59.70  +0.82  7.93
 5  19  537544 VONN Lindsey 1984 USA  1:17.75  41.98  1:59.73  +0.85  8.22
 6  5  105269 GAGNON Marie-Michele 1989 CAN  1:18.61  41.54  2:00.15  +1.27  12.29
 7  17  297601 BRIGNONE Federica 1990 ITA  1:18.51  41.75  2:00.26  +1.38  13.35
 8  2  565320 FERK Marusa 1988 SLO  1:18.31  42.41  2:00.72  +1.84  17.80
 9  14  56174 HAASER Ricarda 1993 AUT  1:19.17  41.64  2:00.81  +1.93  18.67
 10  12  425929 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild 1992 NOR  1:18.22  42.62  2:00.84  +1.96  18.96
 11  43  107613 GRENIER Valerie 1996 CAN  1:18.82  42.12  2:00.94  +2.06  19.93
 12  11  196726 BARTHET Anne-Sophie 1988 FRA  1:18.12  42.84  2:00.96  +2.08  20.12
 13  16  56198 SCHEYER Christine 1994 AUT  1:18.45  42.78  2:01.23  +2.35  22.73
 14  24  426043 TVIBERG Maria Therese 1994 NOR  1:19.48  41.79  2:01.27  +2.39  23.12
 15  4  538573 ROSS Laurenne 1988 USA  1:17.57  43.75  2:01.32  +2.44  23.60
 16  20  197497 MIRADOLI Romane 1994 FRA  1:19.11  42.53  2:01.64  +2.76  26.70
 17  41  426187 LYSDAHL Kristin 1996 NOR  1:19.96  41.82  2:01.78  +2.90  28.05
 17  21  299276 BASSINO Marta 1996 ITA  1:19.92  41.86  2:01.78  +2.90  28.05
 19  31  506701 HOERNBLAD Lisa 1996 SWE  1:19.37  42.56  2:01.93  +3.05  29.50
 20  30  155763 LEDECKA Ester 1995 CZE  1:19.45  42.67  2:02.12  +3.24  31.34
 21  28  107387 CRAWFORD Candace 1994 CAN  1:20.42  42.22  2:02.64  +3.76  36.37
 22  29  537582 COOK Stacey 1984 USA  1:19.38  44.02  2:03.40  +4.52  43.72
 23  35  435334 GASIENICA-DANIEL Maryna 1994 POL  1:20.54  43.35  2:03.89  +5.01  48.46
 24  23  315187 IGNJATOVIC Nevena 1990 SRB  1:21.23  43.81  2:05.04  +6.16  59.59
 25  33  485749 PROKOPYEVA Aleksandra 1994 RUS  1:20.50  44.69  2:05.19  +6.31  61.04
 26  27  35089 SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena 1984 ARG  1:21.62  44.20  2:05.82  +6.94  67.13
 27  42  536481 SCHLEPER Sarah 1979 MEX  1:23.94  46.10  2:10.04  +11.16  107.96
 28  37  155503 KLICNAROVA Pavla 1988 CZE  1:22.52  47.71  2:10.23  +11.35  109.80
Disqualified 2nd run
 32  206668 WEIDLE Kira 1996 GER
Did not start 2nd run
 40  115115 BARAHONA Noelle 1990 CHI
 9  516138 GUT Lara 1991 SUI
Did not start 1st run
 39  6535455 JOHNSON Breezy 1996 USA
 8  355050 WEIRATHER Tina 1989 LIE
Did not finish 2nd run
 38  385096 POPOVIC Leona 1997 CRO
 36  107532 TOMMY Mikaela 1995 CAN
 26  155699 PAULATHOVA Katerina 1993 CZE
 22  565401 BUCIK Ana 1993 SLO
 18  56241 SCHNEEBERGER Rosina 1994 AUT
 10  297910 CURTONI Elena 1991 ITA
 6  298323 GOGGIA Sofia 1992 ITA
 1  565360 STUHEC Ilka 1990 SLO
Did not finish 1st run
 34  375018 COLETTI Alexandra 1983 MON
 25  425879 RIIS-JOHANNESSEN Kristina 1991 NOR

 

 

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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