Alpine skiing: Kira Weidle-Winkelmann misses the podium

Skier Kira Weidle-Winkelmann narrowly missed the podium places in the last race before the Winter Olympics. The Starnberg native took fifth place in Switzerland’s Malorie Blanc’s emotional home win in the Super-G in Crans-Montana. The second German starter, Emma Aicher, was eliminated after a driving error. Blanc won ahead of the Italian Sofia Goggia and the American Breezy Johnson. Goggia’s teammate Laura Pirovano was heading for the fastest time, but then missed the penultimate goal and shed tears of disappointment.

Blanc gave hand kisses to the enthusiastic audience after her first World Cup victory. The 22-year-old grew up near Crans-Montana. On New Year’s Eve there was a fire disaster in a bar in the winter sports resort in the canton of Valais, leaving 40 dead and numerous injured.

Emma Aicher falls and complains about her “rookie mistake”

Weidle-Winkelmann told ZDF that she drove “sometimes really, really well”. “Especially in the middle section.” It was a “very good feeling that I’m back at the front,” commented the World Cup runner-up in the 2021 downhill. She had lost the crucial hundredths on the last wave before the finish: “The rhythm was gone and I lost a lot of time,” said the 29-year-old.

For teammate Aicher, the Olympic dress rehearsal was not very pleasant. After leaning too far inward on a right-hand bend, she fell and became upset. It was a “rookie mistake,” said the 22-year-old. “Skiing is going well right now, I don’t want to let today get me down.” She wants to “tick off” the race, learn from it and do it better. At the Winter Games in Italy, which open next Friday, Aicher is considered the German Alpine team’s greatest hope for a medal.

The American Lindsey Vonn, who fell during the demolition descent on Friday, decided not to start.