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| Event type

Giant Slalom, Women1

Date24 – 25 February 2010
StatusOlympic
LocationWhistler Creekside, Whistler (Franz's GS)
Participants86 from 47 countries
FormatTwo runs, total time determined placement.
DetailsGates: 49
Length: 1309 m
Start Altitude: 1177 m
Vertical Drop: 372 m

The eighth alpine skiing event at Vancouver, the women’s giant slalom, had several favorites – Kathrin Hölzl, Tanja Poutiainen, Kathrin Zettel, and Tina Maze. Six of seven races in the giant slalom World Cup season had been held with Hölzl in the lead after two wins in Aspen and Lienz. Zettel was second with a win in Maribor and Maze was third. Poutiainen, the 2008-09 giant slalom World Cup winner and silver medalist from Torino in 2006, won the first race of the winter in Sölden and also the last World Cup race in Cortina about one month before the Olympics, while Tessa Worley won in Åre. Hölzl was also the reigning world champion from Val d’Isère in 2009 where Maze took silver and Poutiainen bronze. Also competing was Julia Mancuso, the gold medalist from Torino, who had already won two silver medals at this Games in downhill and Super Combined, but the bronze medalist from Torino, Anna Ottosson, had retired in 2007. Also absent was the 2006-07 giant slalom World Cup winner, 2007 world champion, and fourth-place finisher in Torino, Nicole Hosp, who sustained an ACL tear in her right knee on 24 October 2009 after a fall in the first race of the season in Sölden.

With fog covering the majority of the upper part of the course, and a large field, the organizers decided to start the skiers on the first run at shorter intervals than would normally be expected. Kathrin Zettel, with a time of 1:58.28, set the early pace, which was then beaten four skiers later by Taina Barioz by 0.14 seconds. Barioz held the lead until the 16th skier down, Elisabeth Görgl, who took the lead by 0.02 seconds. The next racer, downhill winner Lindsey Vonn, caught an edge in the snow and crashed out of the course. Unfortunately the defending champion, Julia Mancuso, had already started her run when Vonn crashed, so she had to stop around a third of the way down the course. Having to start her run later, and in poorer conditions, a distraught Mancuso could only finish 1.30 seconds behind Görgl in 18th place, effectively ending her chance.

However the drama didn’t end there. Deteriorating weather conditions first delayed the start of the second run, then caused its postponement to the following day, the first time this had happened since 1980, when the event was then scheduled over 2 days.

Weather also affected the second run, particularly the later starters. A brave performance by Mancuso, with what was to be the third fastest time of 1:11.24 in the second run, gave her a combined time of 2:27.66, temporarily putting her into the lead and eventually placing her eighth overall. Her lead held for some time until Fabienne Suter bettered this time with a combined total of 2:27.52. With six of the top ranked skiers to go, Viktoria Rebensburg produced a good run to give her the lead with 2:27.11. Tina Maze, following immediately afterwards, appeared set to take the lead for much of the course, but fell just 0.04 seconds short at the end to move into second place. The overnight leader, Elisabeth Görgl, briefly threatened Rebensburg’s time, but finished 0.14 seconds behind to take the bronze medal. The fastest time of the second run belonged to Denise Karbon, the 2007-08 giant slalom World Cup winner, in a time of 1:11.15, but a poor first run left her down in 23rd place.

Among the favorites, only Maze won a medal with silver. The other medalists were surprises. The 20-year-old Rebensburg had never won a World Cup race before, but had won the Super G in 2008 and 2009, as well as the giant slalom in 2009 at the World Junior Championships. Görgl had only made the team the day before when she bumped out Super G Olympic champion Andrea Fischbacher in an Austrian team qualifier. Rebensburg also won the first medal for ski manufacturer Nordica, while Maze won silver with Stöckli, and Görgl bronze on Head skis. Of note in this event is also Cynthia Denzler, Colombia’s first ever competitor in a Winter Games – sadly she did not finish her first run. However she was to have better luck in the slalom a few days later when she finished 51st.

PosNumberCompetitorNOCTimeRun #1Run #2
12Viktoria RebensburgGER2:27.111:15.47 (6)1:11.64 (7)Gold
27Tina MazeSLO2:27.151:15.39 (5)1:11.76 (11)Silver
316Elisabeth GörglAUT2:27.251:15.12 (1)1:12.13 (15)Bronze
419Fabienne SuterSUI2:27.521:15.97 (11)1:11.55 (6)
54Kathrin ZettelAUT2:27.531:15.28 (3)1:12.25 (19)
61Kathrin HölzlGER2:27.581:15.81 (10)1:11.77 (12)
710Eva-Maria BremAUT2:27.621:15.38 (4)1:12.24 (18)
818Julia MancusoUSA2:27.661:16.42 (18)1:11.24 (3)
98Taïna BariozFRA2:27.791:15.14 (2)1:12.65 (24)
1012Maria RieschGER2:27.971:15.60 (7)1:12.37 (20)
1126Anémone MarmottanFRA2:28.001:16.55 (19)1:11.45 (4)
1222Olivia BertrandFRA2:28.131:16.32 (17)1:11.81 (13)
133Tanja PoutiainenFIN2:28.171:16.16 (13)1:12.01 (14)
1423Sarah SchleperUSA2:28.361:16.19 (14)1:12.17 (17)
1515Michaela KirchgasserAUT2:28.401:16.26 (15)1:12.14 (16)
1613Tessa WorleyFRA2:28.541:15.80 (9)1:12.74 (25)
175Manuela MölggITA2:28.661:15.79 (8)1:12.87 (=26)
1811Federica BrignoneITA2:28.681:17.01 (20)1:11.67 (9)
1936Ana DrevSLO2:28.831:17.63 (26)1:11.20 (2)
2021Nicole GiusITA2:28.871:17.16 (21)1:11.71 (10)
2132Marie-Michèle GagnonCAN2:28.891:17.41 (23)1:11.48 (5)
229Anja PärsonSWE2:28.901:16.01 (12)1:12.89 (28)
2314Denise KarbonITA2:29.371:18.22 (30)1:11.15 (1)
246Maria Pietilä-HolmnerSWE2:29.631:16.28 (16)1:13.35 (29)
2539Britt JanykCAN2:29.791:18.13 (29)1:11.66 (8)
2629Kajsa KlingSWE2:29.931:17.49 (24)1:12.44 (22)
2724Chemmy AlcottGBR2:29.941:17.53 (25)1:12.41 (21)
2837Shona RubensCAN2:30.251:17.38 (22)1:12.87 (=26)
2931Marie-Pier PréfontaineCAN2:30.511:18.01 (27)1:12.50 (23)
3043Sanni LeinonenFIN2:32.441:18.38 (33)1:14.06 (30)
3125Jessica Lindell-VikarbySWE2:32.711:18.34 (32)1:14.37 (31)
3227Megan McJamesUSA2:32.981:18.30 (31)1:14.68 (33)
3341Jelena LolovićSRB2:34.541:20.03 (39)1:14.51 (32)
3442Carolina RuizESP2:35.071:19.17 (35)1:15.90 (35)
3553Jana GantnerováSVK2:35.731:20.00 (38)1:15.73 (34)
3646Tea PalićCRO2:36.121:19.95 (37)1:16.17 (36)
3738Lyaysan RayanovaRUS2:36.951:20.37 (41)1:16.58 (38)
3833María José RiendaESP2:37.451:21.22 (45)1:16.23 (37)
3949Nevena IgnjatovićSRB2:37.511:20.04 (40)1:17.47 (39)
4059Maryia ShkanavaBLR2:40.381:22.18 (46)1:18.20 (41)
4154Žana NovakovićBIH2:40.791:22.77 (48)1:18.02 (40)
4255Anna BereczHUN2:40.871:22.29 (47)1:18.58 (43)
4356Chirine NjeimLBN2:41.611:23.28 (50)1:18.33 (42)
4469Bohdana MatsotskaUKR2:41.981:23.04 (49)1:18.94 (46)
4566Macarena Simari BirknerARG2:42.021:23.29 (51)1:18.73 (44)
4652María Belén Simari BirknerARG2:42.381:23.60 (52)1:18.78 (45)
4758Yina Moe-LangeDEN2:43.671:24.68 (57)1:18.99 (47)
4862Nicol GastaldiARG2:43.781:24.25 (54)1:19.53 (48)
4963Kim Seon-JuKOR2:44.581:23.88 (53)1:20.70 (49)
5061Kirsty McGarryIRL2:45.201:24.28 (55)1:20.92 (50)
5174Liene FimbauereLAT2:46.931:25.16 (58)1:21.77 (51)
5280Maja KlepićBIH2:50.341:27.37 (61)1:22.97 (53)
5376Sofia RalliGRE2:50.611:27.75 (62)1:22.86 (52)
5472Lizaveta KuzmenkaBLR2:50.891:24.60 (56)1:26.29 (58)
5584Sophia PapamichalopoulouCYP2:51.861:28.38 (64)1:23.48 (54)
5679Tuğba DaşdemirTUR2:53.471:28.37 (63)1:25.10 (55)
5777Gaia Bassani AntivariAZE2:56.871:30.82 (66)1:26.05 (57)
5881Kseniya GrigoryevaUZB2:57.221:31.59 (67)1:25.63 (56)
5973Xia LinaCHN2:58.891:30.41 (65)1:28.48 (59)
6085Marjan KalhorIRI3:05.391:36.87 (68)1:28.52 (60)
DNF48Andrea JardiESP1:20.41 (42)– (DNF)
DNF51Mireia GutiérrezAND1:20.61 (43)– (DNF)
DNF70Noelle BarahonaCHI1:26.76 (59)– (DNF)
DNF86Ornella OettlPER1:27.25 (60)– (DNF)
DNF20Šárka ZáhrobskáCZE1:18.06 (28)– (DNS)
DNF35Veronika ZuzulováSVK1:18.96 (34)– (DNS)
DNF45Nika FleissCRO1:19.75 (36)– (DNS)
DNF44Ana JelušićCRO1:20.62 (44)– (DNS)
DNF17Lindsey VonnUSA– (DNF)
DNF34Andrea DettlingSUI– (DNF)
DNF50Alexandra ColettiMON– (DNF)
DNF57Zsófia DömeHUN– (DNF)
DNF65Mariya KirkovaBUL– (DNF)
DNF30Agnieszka Gąsienica-DanielPOL– (DNF)
DNF40Yelena ProstevaRUS– (DNF)
DNF78Nino TsiklauriGEO– (DNF)
DNF28Mona LøsethNOR– (DNF)
DNF60Maya HarrissonBRA– (DNF)
DNF64Sofie JuárezAND– (DNF)
DNF47Matea FerkCRO– (DNF)
DNF71Petra ZakouřilováCZE– (DNF)
DNF83Ani-Matilda SerebrakyanARM– (DNF)
DNF75Cynthia DenzlerCOL– (DNF)
DNF82Lyudmila FedotovaKAZ– (DNF)
DNF68Tiiu NurmbergEST– (DNF)
DQ67Anastasiya SkriabinaUKR[1:24.16] (DQ)