Sensation at the World Ski Championships in Saalbach! Thanks to Camille Rast and Wendy Holdener, Switzerland celebrates the first women's slalom double victory in the history of the World Championships. Rast triumphs 46 hundredths ahead of her teammate.
Much had already been said in favor of Camille Rast after half of the race. She had set a best time with a fantastic run, thanks to which she was able to distance herself from her competitors by 58 hundredths and more.
And the skier from Valais made perfect use of this promising starting position - and did the same to Vreni Schneider. The Glarus native was the last Swiss world champion in the slalom 34 years ago. She had also achieved this in Saalbach.
Wendy Holdener was the fastest in the second run, making up two positions and securing her third medal at these World Championships, her ninth overall at these major events. In the previous days, she had also won silver in the team competition and in the team combined.
Swiss premiere
The two Swiss women, who ensured the first Swiss double success in a World Championship slalom, were separated by 46 hundredths in the final classification. They had already taken the first two places twice this winter, in Killington, Vermont, and in Flachau in Salzburgerland, also in World Cup slaloms - both times in the same order as now in Saalbach.
Katharina Liensberger completed the podium. The Vorarlberg native, Camille Rast's first runner-up after the first run, won bronze two hundredths ahead of the American Paula Moltzan.
Mélanie Meillard, who was in 10th place after the first run due to a rough mistake, risked everything in the second run. However, her very good run in the upper half of the course ended prematurely after a catch. The same thing had already happened to Eliane Christen, the fourth Swiss participant, in the first run.
Coronation of an extraordinary career
Camille Rast crowned her achievements this winter with the World Championship gold. In the past few weeks, she won her first two World Cup victories. In the seven slaloms to date, she has never finished lower than 5th place, and this consistency was of course also reflected in the discipline rankings. Camille Rast traveled to Glemmtal as the leader.
Camille Rast not only crowned a brilliant winter so far, but also a career that had often gone off the rails, during which the Valais skier also came close to retiring. The illness of Pfeiffer's glandular fever, which not only kept her away from the racing slopes but also affected her mentally and culminated in depression, took its toll on the then teenager. A cruciate ligament rupture in her right knee, suffered almost six years ago, was the next turning point in her career and the next touchstone for Camille Rast.
But the talent, who was also junior slalom world champion eight years ago, remembered her qualities. An early exit from the skiing stage was no longer an issue. Camille Rast began to fight. She regained the joy of ski racing, she saw a purpose in her everyday sporting life again. She did all this in the knowledge that the breakthrough was possible despite all the physical and psychological lows. Camille Rast was not mistaken. On Saturday, she also rewarded herself for her perseverance in the best possible way.
The ranking list
The live ticker to read afterwards
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