Camille Rast leads Swiss 1-2 finish in Austria for 2nd World Cup slalom victory
Canada's St-Germain, Smart 11th and 17th; Shiffrin, Vlhova miss race due to injury
Swiss skier Camille Rast earned the second World Cup victory of her breakthrough season Tuesday, leading teammate Wendy Holdener for a Swiss 1-2 finish at a night slalom in Flachau, Austria.
The result pushed Rast back to the top of both the slalom and overall season standings.
With injured slalom stars Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova missing, Rast had a frenetic final run to improve from eighth position, posting a two-run time of one minute 55.03 seconds, 16-100ths of a second in front of Holdener.
Rast became the first skier other than Shiffrin or Vlhova to win the annual floodlit race since Frida Hansdotter triumphed in 2017, a year before the Swede won Olympic slalom gold.
"I saw yesterday on Instagram that Mikaela and Petra won the last six races here. Then I'm really happy today to make a new name on the list," Rast said.
Olympic giant slalom champion Sara Hector of Sweden trailed by 38-100ths in third.
WATCH | Rast win returns her to top spot in slalom and overall standings:
Home crowd favourite Katharina Liensberger, who held a big lead after the opening leg, struggled in her second run down the Griessenkar course and the 2021 slalom world champion dropped to fourth.
Laurence St-Germain of Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que., was top Canadian in 11th (1:56.36) to match her performance last November in Gurgl, Austria. Teammate Amelia Smart, who hails from Invermere, B.C., was 17th (1:57.15) on Tuesday.
Kiki Alexander of Cochrane, Alta., was among 17 athletes who didn't finish the first run.
WATCH | St-Germain top Canadian in Flachau, placing 11th:
Rast hadn't been on a World Cup podium before this season but has racked up two wins and a third, two fourth and a fifth place in the current slalom campaign.
Her maiden victory came in Killington, Vt., in December, when she also led a Swiss 1-2 ahead of Holdener.
Rast leads the overall standings by 26 points over Hector and the slalom season rankings 60 points clear of Holdener.
"I never expected this, I just enjoy it. But I go day by day from here," Rast told Austrian TV.
Zrinka Ljutic, who entered the race as the discipline leader after winning the last two slaloms, failed to qualify for the second run. The Croatian was slowed by a mistake early in her run and finished 3.70 seconds behind.
WATCH | Full replay coverage of Tuesday's 2nd run from Austria:
Paula Moltzan was the best American finisher in sixth, 0.73 behind Rast.
Shiffrin, who won the first two slaloms this season, is recovering from abdominal surgery to clean out a deep wound she suffered in a GS crash in November when chasing her 100th career victory.
The American started training on snow again last week but there is no date set for her return to racing.
Vlhova has been out since knee surgery a year ago.
Lindsey Vonn, who has made an impressive return to World Cup racing this season after nearly six years away from the circuit, competes only in the speed events of downhill and super-G and plans to race in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, next weekend.
Swiss allrounder Michelle Gisin finished 23rd. The two-time Olympic champion in Alpine combined said before the race it would be her last slalom as it's "time to focus my energy on the remaining three disciplines."
Gisin's sole World Cup win came in a night race at another Austrian venue, Semmering, four years ago, when her triumph ended a streak of 28 slaloms between February 2017 and December 2020 that were all won by either Shiffrin or Vlhova.
With files from CBC Sports
