Wendy Holdener and Anna Swenn Larsson triumph at Killington slalom, Marco Odermatt takes Super G

Wendy Holdener and Anna Swenn Larsson shared first in the slalom at Killington in the United States on Sunday, while Marco Odermatt won the Lake Louise Super G.

There was early drama at Lake Louise when the eighth runner, Mauro Caviezel, tumbled and skidding into the netting and lay motionless for some time.

Already a dramatic crash and a worrying one too, fears were exacerbated given the Italian was coming back from a serious injury suffered in 2021.

Fortunately for Caviezel, and his brother Gino who would race later, he appeared to suffer only cuts to his face, and was able to walk to a stretcher before being airlifted by helicopter for further checks.

That interruption caused some concern that snow would fall on the athletes in the later stages of the race, and there were poor conditions for later skiers with cloud and win contributing to difficult circumstances, and Trevor Philp also crashed out.

The win though went to Switzerland’s Odermatt with a time of 1:32.53, with Norway’s Aleksander Kilde 0.37 seconds behind, and Austria’s Mattias Mayer in the final podium place.

In the women’s slalom earlier in the day, Mikeala Shiffrin was in first place after the first run but on a deteriorating course, Holdener did exceptionally well to win her first-ever event after 30 career podium finishes.

Afterwards, both skiers seemed just as happy to share the win rather than to have grabbed it outright.

“I gave it my all,” began Holdener. “To be tied first when I came into the finish was such a relief. And in the end it was perfect. Now we can share our first win together.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Swenn Larsson said. “I am so happy. I have a lot of emotions. It is a dream come true, and I have fought really hard for this one. I am super happy.”

In the first run, to cut the runners down from 60 skiers down to 30, Shiffrin finished top of the pack to secure herself the final runtime in the second leg in order to give a clear indication of what she would need to challenge for victory.

There were problems for Katarina Huber, who looked well set for a top-eight place in the first runout, but she crashed out to leave her with a DNF.

A similar fate affected Paula Moltzan but while she was able to recover and finish, she was way down the standings and locked out of a second, later attempt.

There were worries of rain for the second run, which threatened to make the later descents more difficult despite the advantages that came with a delayed start.

After one run, third was held by Austrian Katharina Liensberger, and second was Swiss Holdener.

After half the runners, the first out in the second attempt, Franziska Gritsch, led with a combined time of 1:43.70

It was not until the 21st runner – Norway’s Maria Therese Tviberg – came down that Gritsch was knocked off the top spot, with the heavy-hitters still to come.

Swenn Larsson put down a second run of 52.24 which gave her a time of 1:42.97, which was then, remarkably, matched by Holdener.

That left Shiffrin to come, but ahead of the final sector she was already three-tenths of a second behind and could only manage fifth.

Third place went to Austria’s Katharina Truppe.

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