Norwegian Maria Therese Tviberg and German Alexander Schmid, both 28 years old, Parallel world champions were proclaimed, after scoring this Wednesday the tests of that discipline of the alpine ski world championships of Courchevel and Meribel, which were played simultaneously in the second of the aforementioned French stations.
Without victories in the World Cup -in which Schmid has three podiums and Tviberg never climbed to the drawer-, both skiers celebrated in the French Savoy the most important victory of their sports careers. On a day in which Norway captured three medals at once, leaving the Roc de Fer track -in which they repeated, by qualifying rounds, a route with 19 gates, starting at an altitude of 1,555 meters and a drop of 123- with two other bronzes: those won by Thea Louise Stjernesund and Timon Haug, who, together with the new world champion, had been proclaimed runners-up in the world by teams on Tuesday.
Tviberg, who also has the Olympic team bronze achieved last year at the Beijing Games, defeated the Swiss Wendy Holdener in the final, who energetically celebrated her eleventh medal in major events, the sixth in World Cups and the second in those of Courchevel and Méribel: after the one he captured in the combined one that opened the championships. She also made of silver.
Schmid, world team bronze two years ago at the Cortina d’Ampezzo World Championships (Italy) and Olympic silver last season in that discipline at the Beijing Games, he relegated Dominik Raschner to second place, who won a silver that was gold for him, but which surely tasted little to Austria.
The Alpine republic, which put two of its men in the semifinals -Adrian Pertl finished fourth-, is the second country in number of medals (with six, one less than Norway). But still without capturing a gold. Reason for which it occupies a discreet eighth place in the Medal Table, which is headed by Switzerland, its great historical rival in the winter king of sports. Schmid and Tviberg succeeded in the history of the competition the French Mathieu Favre, champion in the Cortina World Cups; and the Austrian Katharina Liensberger and the Italian Marta Bassino, who shared gold two years ago in the Dolomites.
Both imposed a discipline in which on Tuesday the initial screening took place through the qualification, which made the two round of 16 tables, reserved in each case for the best 16. Only one of the five Austrians, Franziska Gritsch, appeared in the women’s category, and Liensberger was not there, who did not make the cut and for that reason could not defend the title; something that Bassino did opt for, without success.
Bassino, who in these World Cups already celebrated a gold -supergiant- and will ask for cards in the giant this Thursday, fell at the first exchange before the French Marie Lamure, 21 years old; that was about to become the surprise of the day. Lamure got into the semifinals: in which he lost to Holdener, shortly before losing the battle for bronze against Stjernesund. The top was set, in the women’s event, by Norway, France and Switzerland; with three competitors. Norway was also the one that placed the most men in the men’s draw -three-, in which the Andorran Joan Verdu did enter, eliminated in the round of 16 by one of the Nordics, Rasmus Windingstad.
Alexis Pinturault was looking for his third medal in a World Cup that they are playing at home -his parents run a hotel in Courchevel-, after winning the combined and capturing bronze in the ‘super’; but the Frenchman was knocked out at the first exchange, eliminated by the Norwegian Alexander Steen Olsen, who on Tuesday had won silver with his country in the team event.
The clash between Zan Kranjec and the Italian Alex Vinatzer, on paper the most attractive of the round of 16, was resolved in favor of the Slovenian, whose tour ended in the quarterfinals: instance in which he crossed paths with Schmid, brand new world champion. Another German, Linus Strasser, was also left out, eliminated by the Italian Luca de Aliprandini, in another of the clashes that measured medalists in major events.
The one between Holdener and the Swedish Sara Hector (current Olympic giant champion), the most attractive matchup in the quarterfinals, was resolved in favor of the Swiss, who in the semifinals faced Lamure, who had won shortly before against the Austrian Gritsch. Holdener asserted her experience before the young Frenchwoman and faced Tviberg -winner in the Norwegian duel against Stjernesund- in the final, which was not decided in favor of the Nordic until the second descent, after in the first both crossed the finish line with the same time.
Stjernesund, who was five hundredths behind Lamure after the first act, benefited from the Frenchwoman missing a ski at the most inopportune moment, and took bronze. In another fratricidal duel, in this case involving Austrians, Raschner defeated Adrian Pertl, who lost the bronze to Haugan, who was only one hundredth off him after the first descent. Much clearer was the men’s final, practically decided in the first round, in which Schmid had already improved Raschner by half a second, who at 28 years old also considered silver (very) good; with which he also signed the best result of his entire career.
This Thursday the women’s giant will be played, in which the American Mikaela Shiffrin -the great dominator of world alpine skiing in recent years- will enter into action again. that this Wednesday he announced, surprisingly and through his federation, that he will no longer have Mike Day as coach, along with whom he has celebrated innumerable successes over the past seven years; and that he will face the remainder of the season without a head coach.
