Skier Kira Weidle placed fourth in the Kvitfjell Super-G and achieved the best result of her career in the discipline. When Swiss World Cup leader Lara Gut-Behrami won on Saturday, she was just 16 hundredths of a second off the podium. This was completed by Cornelia Hütter (+0.12 seconds) and her Austrian teammate Mirjam Puchner (+0.13).
Weidle, who qualified at the same time as Pyeongchang Olympic champion Ester Ledecka (Czech Republic), earned two seventh-place finishes as the best Super-G results of her career so far. In what has so far been a disappointing season, she has never finished this far ahead in her current discipline, downhill.
Kira Weidle, 4th place in Super-G: “Good for the heart and soul”
The result “positively surprised her,” said the 28-year-old. in ZDF. The training finally pays off and self-confidence also increases thanks to these achievements. So far this winter, the athlete from Starnberg has only achieved two ninth places.
“I will be happy if things move forward again somewhere. The season hasn't gone my way so far. But every good result is good for the heart and soul.” Her partner Emma Aicher came in 23rd place (+2.00), Katrin Hirtl-Stanggaßinger came in 34th place (+2.75).
In fact, a downhill race was planned for Saturday, but since the mandatory training was not possible due to the bad weather of the last few days, the organizers canceled the race and scheduled a Super-G race instead. Another Super-G is scheduled for Sunday (11:00 a.m./ZDF and Eurosport).
Gut-Behrami before the preliminary decision in the fight for the big ball
Then Gut-Behrami will be able to make a preliminary decision in the fight for the World Cup. With her success on Saturday, the Swiss increased her lead over the still injured Mikaela Shiffrin to 305 points. The American will not start on Sunday either, so the difference with Gut-Behrami could be even greater. With six tests remaining, the Swiss will probably no longer be able to catch up in the fight for the great crystal ball.