Experienced Fischer athlete Thomas Tumler sprang a surprise as he ended up beaming on the podium on Sunday, which really put the icing on the cake. For the first time, the 30-year-old Swiss claimed a second place in a World Cup event, his previous best finish being a third in the Beaver Creek Giant Slalom in 2018. In the end, Tumler was only a whisker away from landing an absolute coup: In the final heat of the parallel event he was pitched against his compatriot Loic Meillard on the red course which had become somewhat slower and was only just beaten to the line.
Slalom specialist Alexander Khoroshilov impressed on Saturday with a very creditable sixth place in the Chamonix Slalom.
Schmidhofer, last year’s winner, had been struggling with the flu, but recovered to clinch her first podium since winning the Downhill in Lake Louise in December last year. Although the course conditions were anything but easy, the 2017 Super G world champion produced an outstanding race to prove yet again that she is always a force to be reckoned with.
The previous weeks with their modest results had been tough for Schmidhofer, so her relief was naturally “tremendous”: “For me this counts almost as much as a win,” said the long-serving Fischer racer, delighted at this greatly improved performance that saw her beaten only by Corinne Suter (SUI) on Sunday.
