Wendy Holdener leaves the Rocky Mountains for Canada with mixed feelings. The racer from Switzerland impresses in Copper Mountain before her first podium finish of the winter slips away.
01.12.2025, 11:07
01.12.2025, 11:32
SDA
Holdener was second behind Mikaela Shiffrin after the first run on Sunday. She was one second behind the leader Lena Dürr when she stood in the starting gate for the second time. As in Gurgl, she ended up in 4th place. "I'm very happy with my run," she said after the first run. "I'm a bit annoyed and sad," she said after the second run. She had wanted to win, but didn't really get into her skiing. "Maybe I wanted too much at the top," said Holdener.
Holdener's start to the season is not worrying. The 4th places in Gurgl and Copper Mountain show that the 32-year-old can also compete for podium places in her 16th season in the World Cup. Together with her 8th place at the season opener in Levi, this once again paints a picture of consistency at a high level. It would be a surprise if Holdener did not make it onto a World Cup podium in the 2025/26 Olympic winter, as she has done every time since 2013/14.
But a third victory seems a long way off again. Mikaela Shiffrin, who returned to the technical disciplines after her crash in Killington a year ago and celebrated a home win in Copper Mountain for the first time in ten years in the state of Colorado, is back in a league of her own in the slalom. And with Lara Colturi, a number 2 has emerged in the first races. The immense potential of the 19-year-old Italian, who races for Albania, is obvious; in the absence of Petra Vlhova, she is already the skier who comes closest to Shiffrin.
Behind her, the differences are small. Camille Rast, for example, finished tenth on Sunday, just 44 hundredths behind Holdener. "A place in the top 10 is good, because everything is close - except for Shiffrin," said the world champion, without letting herself be put off. "I know that I can improve."
Holdener, meanwhile, is still looking for ease. It's "not yet the playfulness I was hoping for", she said after Gurgl, where she lost out to Rast by 17 hundredths in the Swiss duel for third place. She now has two weeks until the next slalom in Courchevel to eliminate her weaknesses.
