The alpine season has come to an early end for top ski racer Petra Vlhova. The Slovakian fell at her home World Cup in Jasna and suffered a serious knee injury.
As her coach Mauro Pini announced, torn ligaments in her right knee were diagnosed in the hospital, which would make a comeback this winter impossible. A decision will be made in the next few days about an operation for the 2022 Olympic slalom champion and 2019 giant slalom world champion.
The Slovakian fell in the first round of the giant slalom, hitting her back and head and twisting her knee. She had to be treated on the route in the Carpathians and then taken to the valley by rescue sleigh.
Sara Hector with two fantastic runs
This meant that many Slovakian fans were unable to see the duel they had hoped for with World Cup leader Mikaela Shiffrin – it was only on Tuesday that Shiffrin narrowly won the night slalom in Flachau ahead of Vlhova. Instead of the two long-term rivals, another one stood out: Olympic champion Sara Hector from Sweden showed two fantastic runs on an icy and difficult slope and prevailed with a 1.52 second lead over the American Shiffrin. Alice Robinson from New Zealand came third (2.71).
From the German team, only Lena Dürr made it to the second run. The racer from Germering, who can compete for the podium in the slalom on Sunday, finished the giant slalom in 29th place, 8.77 seconds behind.
In general, the competition was characterized by extreme time differences. The Italian co-favorite Marta Bassino, for example, was 8.21 seconds behind in the first run without making any major mistakes and clearly missed the final. Meanwhile, Kajsa Vickhoff Lie from Norway made it to tenth place despite being five and a half seconds behind Hector.
