KRANJSKA Gora, Slovenia (AP) — Swedish ski racer Sara Hector has been waiting seven years for another victory since her first giant Slalom World Cup triumph in December. Now she has won two more races in 10 days and has climbed to the podium in each of the last four races.
To top it off, she overtook Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin at the top of the discipline standings on Saturday.
“I’m shocked, it’s so great,” Hector said after his third win of his career.
Hector signed the best time of the two innings on a demanding course used mainly in the men’s World Championship. She extended her narrow lead in the first round to a huge one.96 Seconds into the second, former French world champion Tessa Worley.
The winner of the GS World Cup, Marta Bassino, took third place on Saturday, while Valérie Grenier from St. Isidore, Have., finished fourth, while the Canadian skier achieved her best World Cup career result.
“Very good day,” said Scheuer. “I’m really happy with my ski in everything. The conditions are really difficult and it’s a long hill, so it’s not easy. I fought to the end and I am satisfied with the results.”
Shiffrin improved from 14th place after the first lap to seventh place, 2.05 seconds ahead of Hector, who now leads the American with 46 points in the GS season standings.
“It’s really incredible. I felt really good, but you never know. Maybe I felt too round because it was easy,” said Hector, who became the first Swedish skier since Jessica Lindell-Vikarby to top the GS rankings eight seasons ago.
Lindell-Vikarby won the GS bronze medal at the World Championships in Beaver Creek, Colorado and was the top-rated GS rider towards the end of the World Cup season. She was eventually overtaken by Anna Veith, the two-time Austrian champion, who competed under her maiden name Fenninger at the time.
“Jessica has been a great inspiration to me all these years,” Hector said. “When she thought about it, she did it after… not like the age of Mikaela, like super young.”
Hector said that his years in the Swedish team with Lindell-Vikarby, who retired in the summer at the age of 31, helped her.
“It was nice to have someone to look up to when you’re having difficulties and facing challenges,” Hector said. “If you work hard and with a good goal, things can suddenly get better.”
Things have certainly reversed at a good time for Hector, with the Olympic Giant Slalom just 30 days away. Feb. Race 7 opens the women’s Alpine Skiing program in Beijing.
Shiffrin had won the first two giant Slaloms this season and was second behind Hector in the third, but had to forego the next GS in Austria last week after a positive test on the recent times.
The American has increased her lead in the World Cup standings to 135 points from Petra Vlhova, who finished 15th.
Some other pre-race favorites have struggled on the difficult Podkoren course, which is an annual stop on the men’s circuit.
World Champion Lara Gut-Behrami, who was running for the first time in almost four weeks due to a recent times infection, was only 17th after the first round, but improved to fifth place.
Shiffrin’s U.S. teammate Paula Moltzan had a bad fall on her second downhill, but “she’s fine,” the U.S. ski team said on Twitter.
No spectators were allowed to the race, which had been moved from another Slovenian station, Maribor, due to lack of snow. On Sunday, a slalom on the same slope is planned.