Maze crushes field in first run of Soelden opener

Tina Maze of Slovenia decimated the field in the first run of the first World Cup race of the season, the GS at Soelden, Austria this morning (Oct. 27).

Maze put a three-quarter if a second margin (.74) over her closest rival on the day, Frenchwoman Tessa Worley. Defending World Cup GS champion Viktoria Rebensburg was third, 1.02 off the pace.

After a week of warm and cloudless weather the Rettenbach Glacier above Soelden was dressed in a wet snow overnight and shrouded in fog as the countdown for the start got underway. The fog began to lift shortly before the 9:30am scheduled start and periodically covered the course, moving in and out during the race.

American racers were not pleased with their showing. Lindsey Vonn, the defending race champion and number two finisher in GS last season, wound up ninth more than two seconds behind Maze with another run remaining to be contested. Julia Mancuso lost a ski high on the course’s steep pitch and was forced to ski off course.
“It wasn’t rutted, it was pretty nice in fact,” she said. “It was a snow snake. You hear about them, I guess they’re real.”

Mikaela Shiffrin appeared to lose considerable time along the late, flat portion of the course, and just missed the cut for the second run by one placing and one hundredth of a second. “I kept telling myself I was going too round, too round. Maybe I can correct it here… maybe here. … and then I was under the finish banner.”

Megan McJames was 9.62 seconds out and was destine for last place status.

Canada is being led by Marie-Michele Gagnon in ninth and Marie-Pier PreFontaine in 20th. Erin Mielzynski did not make the cut, finishing 49th.

It is Maze, however, in firm control of the first race of the season. Second run is scheduled for 12:30, about 6:30am Eastern time.

Gepa photo

first run results