Leading after the first run, Yule kept his nerve in front of 13,000 spectators. “The atmosphere at the finish is unique,” said the 26-year-old. “I just told myself to go for it and when I saw the green light in the finish it was unbelievable.” His compatriot Tanguy Nef, on the other hand, skied out in the second run after lying an excellent fourth at the half-way stage. Russian Alexander Khoroshilov was unable to repeat his good performance in the first run, falling back to 16th in the second.
On the Saturday Roland Leitinger impressed, finishing sixth in the Giant Slalom in Adelboden. In a race won by Slovenian Zan Kranjec, the Salzburg-born athlete was only 27th after the first run. But in the second he pulled out all the stops, catapulting himself to top spot with the day's fastest time. “Thank God!” said Leitinger. “What I did in the first run simply wasn’t enough, I went for damage limitation and skied really brilliantly.” Following his 19th, 21st and 23rd places this was his best result in the classic Giant Slalom this season. Previously he had finished third in the Parallel Giant Slalom.
Of the women in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, only Ramona Siebenhofer came anywhere near the podium. She placed fourth in the Alpine Combined on Sunday. After so many of the favourites had failed to finish, she was beginning to think that a podium might be possible, said Siebenhofer. “Fourth place is always frustrating, especially at home. Hopefully it’ll work out one day.” Swiss racer Nathalie Gröbli’s eighth place was her best World Cup result to date.
