“This time everything went exactly to plan except for the semi-final,” said the 28-year-old, delighted at rounding off the year with a success. For the first time since his torn ligament in January 2018, Leitinger was able to reproduce his good training performances in a race and pull off a top result. “I’d been gaining more confidence from race to race,” said the jubilant long-serving Fischer athlete. “I’m loving it, everything's fantastic at the moment.” In the semi-final he also had his chances, even on the slightly slower blue run, and was just ahead for a time before risking too much.
In the afternoon, the rest of the starters from the Fischer Race Family missed out on qualification for the night race, some by the narrowest of margins. Slalom ace Daniel Yule finished 33rd, falling short by a mere one hundredth of a second, while Stefan Brennsteiner produced a good first heat, only to make a mistake in the second that cost him any chance of qualification.