Rebensburg Claims Come-From-Behind Victory At Sölden, Weather Cancels Men’s GS

Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany battled back from a slight mistake in the first run to claim her first win at the Sölden FIS Audi Ski World Cup opener since 2010. Coincidentally, she once again shared the podium with third-place finisher Manuela Moelgg of Italy, the same result as in 2010. Defending giant slalom globe winner Tessa Worley of France claimed her first podium finish at the Austrian resort, squeezing into second place, under sunny skies and in front of 14,500 fans.

Rebensburg struggled in the 2016/17 season with back problems and a tibial fracture – still finding the podium twice – but has returned to the tour this year healthy and strong. She overcame a 0.33-second deficit after the first run to overtake Moelgg for the win. The 2017 Overall champion Mikaela Shiffrin sat in second place after the first run but ultimately finished fifth.

Worley was beyond ecstatic to claim her maiden Sölden podium. She sat in sixth place after the first run and fought hard in the second run to close the gap to within 0.14 seconds of Rebensburg. At 34 years old, Moelgg was the most experienced athlete in the race and quite impressively managed to match her result from seven years prior. Wind forced the jury to lower the start to the reserve position, but the infamous pitch on the Rettenbach glacier still challenged the best skiers in the world to turn out crowd-pleasing performances.

With wind gusts up to 120 km/hr measured at the Pitztaler Weather Station, and forecast for worsening conditions later in the day, it was a quick decision for the Jury, who could assess that the conditions would be too dangerous for the athletes, but also for the spectators due to the temporary infrastructures in the finish area. The strong storm swept across much of central Europe, even causing fatalities in the Czech Republic and fallen trees all across much of Austria.

In fact by midday, the entire glacier area had to be evacuated due to the storm.

“The local authority, the organising committee and the race jury came together at 05h30 this morning to evaluate the situation on the glacier. At first, we decided to stand by and delay the final decision to 6h45. However, the situation didn’t improve and according to the updated forecast, the wind gusts will get even stronger and the safety can no longer be guaranteed. Safety comes first, we had no other choice than to cancel,” said FIS Chief Race Director Markus Waldner.

Officials had hoped the forecast would be incorrect after the great start enjoyed by the ladies' Audi FIS World Cup the previous day. An impressive seven different nations finished in the top seven spots in a memorably race that featured several lead changes and twists and turns. In the end, Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg found her way back at the very top of the podium, claiming the win in front of last season's ranking winner Tessa Worley from France and Italy's Manuela Moelgg who scored her 12th World Cup podium with age 34.

But  despite the great efforts by the Soelden Organising Committee, Mother Nature proved to be too strong for the men to start their season. As per World Cup rule 18.1, the World Cup Opening races which have to be cancelled during the Opening are not rescheduled, so there will be one less giant slalom on the men’s calendar 2017/18.

The World Cup Tour will go on in November, with a ladies’ and a men’s slalom on 11th and 12th in Levi.