Giant Slalom, Women1

For the first time since 1984 the women’s Alpine skiing program started with the giant slalom, but in 1984 this was due to the postponement of the downhill, while this time the giant slalom was the first scheduled event. Originally scheduled for 12 February, the race was postponed to the 15th due to strong winds, which would have made the giant slalom follow the slalom, originally scheduled for the 14th, but the slalom was also postponed.

The giant slalom World Cup season saw Viktoria Rebensburg, the bronze medalist from Sochi and silver medalist at the 2015 World Championships, in the lead. She was followed by Tessa Worley, who won the last race before the Olympics in Lenzerheide and was also the giant slalom Crystal Globe winner from the last season (2016/17) as well as the reigning World Champion. In third place was the runner-up in giant slalom at the 2017 World Championships, Mikaela Shiffrin. Considered contenders were Federica Brignone, who already won one race this season, and Ragnhild Mowinckel. The gold medalist from Sochi, Tina Maze, had already retired, while the silver medalist Anna Veith, who won the giant slalom World Cup in 2013/14 and 2014/15 and was also the 2015 World Champion, was returning after surgeries on both knees. The 2015/16 World Cup champion Eva-Maria Brem failed to qualify for the Games after breaking her left tibia and fibula in a November 2016 crash.

The race started under sunny, but cold conditions, -9° C. at the start. Manuela Mölgg led off and surprisingly no one was able to beat her time of 1:10.62. Next to her was Shiffrin in second, Brignone in third and Mowinckel in fourth position with the first nine athletes within a second. Rebensburg was only in eighth and Worley down in 14th, a full 1.42 seconds behind Mölgg. In the second run Estelle Alphand, who started early, set the fastest run time with Worley only 1/100th of a second behind, but neither got near the medals because of their weak first runs. The win went to the world’s dominant skier, Mikaela Shiffrin, with Mowickel in second and Brignone in third. The leader after the first run, Mölgg, who never won a World Cup race, dropped down to eighth place.

Mowinckel also made history in becoming the first ever Norwegian woman to win a medal in giant slalom, which was only the second Alpine skiing medal for Norwegian women after a bronze medal won in combined by Laila Schou Nilsen, back in 1936. In 48th place was Mialitiana Clerc of Madagascar, who became the first ever female Alpine skier from her country. Finishing in 56th place, Arabella Ng was the first ever Alpine skier from Hong Kong, while Kenyan Sabrina Simader was not able to finish the race, but was the first Alpine skier from her country. Shiffrin won the race on Atomic skis, Mowinckel used Head, Brignone skied on Rossignol, Rebensburg used Stöckli, and Bassino in fifth was on Salomon, with the first five finishers using different skis.