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Swiss skier Camille Rast earned her first career win in a World Cup giant slalom Saturday and then dedicated her victory to the victims of the fire at a Crans-Montana bar.
Rast tapped the black mourning band on her left upper arm twice after she finished her final run to beat second-placed Julia Scheib of Austria by two-tenths in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.
“This week, in my hometown, there was a tragical accident and I think about those families. We race for them, this weekend,” Rast said in a course-side interview.
The Swiss skier grabbed her 1st win of the season, finishing her second run in 58.71.
Rast was born in Vetroz, a village about 40 kilometres from Crans-Montana in the Canton of Valais.
The fire in the crowded bar in the Swiss ski resort left 40 people dead and more than 100 injured during a New Year’s celebration.
Crans-Montana is set to host World Cup speed races for women on Jan. 30-31 and for men on Feb. 1, the last events before the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Paula Moltzan finished 0.47 behind in third for the American’s second podium result of the season. Teammate Mikaela Shiffrin was just over a second behind in fifth.
Val Grenier of St. Isidore, Ont., finished ninth as the top Canadian, 2.05 seconds behind.
Valérie Grenier of St. Isidore, Ont., finishes 9th overall in the women’s giant slalom at the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup stop in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.
Nina O’Brien in eighth and Elisabeth Bocock in 14th, matching her career best result from a GS in Sweden in March 2023, rounded off a strong showing by the U.S. ski team.
Scheib extended her lead in the GS standings as her closest challenger, New Zealand’s Alice Robinson, skied out in the first run for a second straight race, this time on a course set by her coach Nils Coberger.
A slalom on the same hill is scheduled for Sunday, with live coverage available on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem. There are no men’s World Cup races this weekend.
Watch the deciding run of the FIS World Cup giant slalom event from Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.
