Ester Ledecká on the exit track in Val d’Isere
Christian Hartmann, Reuters
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The 25-year-old winter “amphibian” once again managed the transition from snowboarding to skiing. On Saturday, she won the parallel giant slalom World Championship in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, and after a few training sessions she established herself among the best skiers in France. “There was little time for it, but that’s the way it is, that’s how I chose it, so no excuses. I have to work with what I have,” said Ledecká.
She didn’t have to make excuses. She showed an excellent ride in the race with minor hesitations. She lagged most behind in the upper passage, but lost almost nothing in the demanding icy middle or lower part. She was a second behind the finish line. “I am satisfied with the ride,” coach Tomáš Bank assessed on Czech Television.
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Just before Ledecká, two rivals fell. Worse was the Austrian Nicole Schmidhofer, who, at a hundred-kilometer speed, ran sideways into the protective nets, which cut through the edge of the ski and disappeared in them. With a frayed face and a sore left knee, she was taken to hospital. According to initial examinations, he appears to have a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament and external lateral ligament. The race was interrupted for 20 minutes after her carom.
Four competitors later, the Italian Federica Brignone was also wrong in the same place, but after a while she got up and went skiing. Ledecká did not let the falls of her opponents decide. “It’s unpleasant especially for girls who fell,” said the Czech racer.
She found out over the radio why the skiers were wrong. “How did it happen, why did it happen and then I tried to avoid it in my ride. It’s a gate at the end of the descent and after a jump with a slight compression. It hangs on one leg and it’s still broken. It’s a heavy gate, but you can drive safely, you just want to prepare well for it, “said Ledecká.
Austrian Nicole Schmidhofer after falling during a descent in Val d’Isere.
Giovanni Auletta, ČTK / AP
“I’m a little sad that I chose nineteen,” Bank recalled the number Ledecká went with. The reason was that in training, the OK piste gradually accelerated, but in the race it was not easy to concentrate after the falls of the opponents. “The falls won’t add to anyone and I’m glad she did it,” coach Ledecka praised, and the two-time Olympic winner added: “No one could have known it would be delayed. We are an outdoor sport, it has to be taken into account. that’s how we have to put up with it. “
After Ledecká, Joana Hählenová did not manage to jump in front of the critical passage, she fell and also slipped into the nets, but she got up quickly. In the place under the cable car, where the racers ran out of energy, the winner of the first training, the American Alice McKennis Duran, persisted. She also escaped from the carom without injury.
Last year’s World Cup winner Suterova won 11 hundredths ahead of Pyongyang’s Olympic downhill winner Sofia Sofia Goggia. The third was the fastest skier from the second training, Breezy Johnson from the USA.
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Ester Ledecká at the finish of the exit in Val d’Isere.
Eric Gaillard, Reuters
In Val d’Isere, the women ran the first speed race of the season. The traditional start in Lake Louise, where Ledecká won one run last year, did not take place due to coronavirus. Supergiant slaloms in St. Moritz were destroyed by snowfall fourteen days ago.
“The principle of the whole race is to win, I will always try, but there are more of those girls. It is also very important for me that I give the maximum, and today it was enough for sixth place, which is great. I will of course try to improve, analyze your ride and move again, “said Ledecká.
| SP downhill skiing race in Val d´Isere (France): | |
| Women & # 39; s Downhill: | |
| 1. C. Suterová (Swiss) | 1:44,62 |
| 2. Goggiaová (It.) | -0,11 |
| 3. Johnsonová (USA) | -0,20 |
| 4. Štuhecová (Slovenia) | -0,65 |
| 5. Ortliebová (AUT) | -0,97 |
| 6. Ledecká (CR) | -1,08 |
| 7. Tipplerová (AUT) | -1,25 |
| 8. Gutova-Behrami (Sv.) | -1,32 |
| 9. Mowinckelová (Nor.) | -1,33 |
| 10. E. Curtoniová (It.) | -1,36 |
| SP standings (after 7 out of 34 races): | |
| 1. Vlhová (SR) | 425 |
| 2. Shiffrinová (USA) | 275 |
| 3. Bassinová (It.) | 273 |
| 4. Gisin (Swiss) | 269 |
| 5. Brignoneová (It.) | 248 |
| 6. Liensberger (AUT) | 220 |
| …28. Ledecká | 51 |
| 31. Dubovská (CR) | 48 |
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