Schmitt (SUI), Traninger (AUT) survive scares to win European Cup overall titles

Mar 22, 2024·Alpine Skiing

Both European Cup overall titles came down to the final day of racing as the 2023/24 season culminated with a thrilling finish at the finals in Norway this week.

Janine Schmitt (SUI) and Manuel Traninger (AUT) entered the finals with overall leads, only to lose them during the week before fighting back to win the crystal medals in title races that had calculators working overtime.

Schmitt edges Clement and Schoepf to claim women's overall title

Schmitt entered the finals with a one-point lead in the overall standings, but Karen Clement (FRA) finished above her in the giant slalom and downhill races to take the lead with just one race remaining: Friday's super-G in Kvitfjell.

With everything on the line, Schmitt finished fourth behind winner Tifany Roux (FRA) for a 50-point haul, enough to see her overtake Clement (10th, 26 points) and win the overall title by just four points.

Emily Schoepf (AUT), who had entered the finals in second place, finished 16th (15 points) in the super-G to see her title hopes extinguished as she finished third overall, 21 points behind Schmitt.

In addition to the overall title, the Swiss racer also claimed the season-long super-G title to become the only athlete, female or male, to win multiple European Cup crystal medals this season.

Karen Clement (FRA) just missed out on the overall European Cup title

In the other women's speed race in Kvitfjell, the younger of the two well-known Delago sisters, Nadia Delago (ITA), took the downhill victory, while Schoepf had already secured the season title before the finals.

During the final technical contests of the season in Hafjell last weekend, both disciplines saw come-from-behind victories in the title races.

In giant slalom, Ilaria Ghisalberti (ITA) finished third behind Marte Monsen (NOR) to earn 60 points and overtake Stefanie Grob (SUI), who finished 14th for 18 points, to win the season title by eight points.

In slalom, pre-finals leader Nicole Good (SUI) didn't qualify for the second run, scoring no points and allowing Bianca Bakke Westhoff (NOR) to win the title with her runner-up performance behind Elena Stoffel (SUI).

Nadia Delago (ITA) won the downhill at the European Cup finals

Braekken throws down the gauntlet but Traninger responds

Theodor Braekken (NOR) earned 95 points from the two technical races last weekend in Hafjell to take the overall lead from Traninger and ensure an exciting finish in the final two speed races in Kvitfjell.

The Norwegian slalom specialist strapped on his long boards, including competing in his first super-G race in over a year, in an attempt to pick up some extra points and hold onto his lead. But he didn't score in either speed race, leaving the door open for Traninger.

The Austrian managed only 10 points after finishing 21st in Thursday's downhill and still trailed by nine points heading into Friday's super-G. But in the last race of the season, his 16th place gave him 15 points that, combined with Braekken's DNF, handed the title to the Austrian.

The super-G race was won by Jacob Schramm (GER), with the discipline title having already been claimed before the finals by Florian Loriot (FRA), who came ninth in Kvitfjell.

Manuel Traninger (AUT) lost his overall lead but fought back to take the title

In the most exciting of the men's discipline title races, Livio Hiltbrand (SUI) won the downhill contest on Thursday to come from the clouds and claim the season title.

Entering the finals in fifth place in the standings, Hiltbrand won the race by 0.41 seconds to add the crystal medal to the junior world championships downhill gold he won in January.

In giant slalom last weekend, Jonas Stockinger (GER) finished 12th to protect his lead in the title race and win by 31 points over Jesper Wahlqvist (NOR), whose second place in Hafjell behind Diego Orecchioni (FRA) wasn't quite enough.

In slalom, Braekken had already wrapped up the title entering the finals, and finished second behind Eduard Hallberg (FIN) to add 80 points to his tally and set up the final overall showdown with Traninger.