Olympic champ Hector denies Moltzan with statement GS win

Sara Hector (SWE/Head) chose the perfect moment to land a first Audi FIS World Cup win of the season, denying a packed leaderboard to triumph in the Giant Slalom in Spindleruv Mlyn on Sunday.

With the world’s best gathered for a final GS shootout ahead of next month’s Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games, defending champion Hector proved it will take something special to wrestle the title from her hands.

Despite leading after a superb run one, the Swede knew she still had it all to do, after Paula Moltzan (USA/Rossignol) had thrown down a spectacular second effort. At Hector’s final split it looked like Moltzan would win a first World Cup crown in her 142^nd start but somehow Hector found some rocket fuel in the final section to finish 0.18 seconds clear of the phlegmatic American.

Mikaela Shiffrin (USA/Atomic) rounded off the top three, grabbing her first GS podium finish in almost two years. Nina O’Brien (USA/Rossignol) and AJ Hurt (USA/Head) completed another red-letter day for the Stars and Stripes, finishing fifth and eighth respectively meaning four USA skiers in the top eight.

The consistent Camille Rast (SUI/Head) split Shiffrin and O’Brien, while her teammate Sue Piller (Atomic) showed the future of Swiss ski racing is in safe hands. In just her 11^th World Cup start the 20-year-old roared from starting bib No.34 to snatch sixth – her best ever World Cup result.

'So cool to be able to win'

This however was the day that Hector served warning that she is still to be feared. The 33-year-old said after finishing third in last week’s Kronplatz GS she wanted to win before the Olympic Games, and in front of a packed house of passionate Czechia ski racing fans, she did just that.

Hector might be the reigning Olympic gold medallist, and now a eight-time World Cup winner, but she is taking nothing for granted.

“You see there are so many good girls out here, it’s just so cool to be able to win,” she said.

“I am ready. Mostly, I am just looking forward to going there and just to enjoy (it). Last time I was just so focused and I didn’t really have time to feel it was the Olympics. This time I think I can go there with a little bit lighter heart, because I have a gold and now it’s just to really go there and enjoy. I am very much looking forward to that.

“For sure, I have to work hard so I can stay in good shape.”

'I am very patient'

Seeing her chance of a maiden World Cup win snatched away in the final metres and by less than two-tenths of a second might have left some skiers a little sore. But Moltzan is made of sterner stuff.

A superb second run, the quickest in the field by 0.15 seconds, certainly shows Moltzan is in superb form. As does the fact she now a 2025 World Championship GS bronze medal plus six World Cup podium places (four in GS and two in Slalom) to her name in the past season-and-a-half. Form that has her smiling.

“It felt really naturally and flowy. I am just happy, I don’t know, I am just really happy,” she said.

Another thing that is keeping 31-year-old cheery is the fact so many of her teammates are producing their best when it really matters.

“I am really just so excited for my team right now, we had four girls in the top eight that’s unbelievable,” Moltzan added. “It just shows you the strength that we have going into the Olympics.”

‘A really special day’

There is no doubt who will be one of the favourites to triumph in Cortina and the fact Shiffrin now goes to the famous Italian resort with a top GS result under her belt, as well as her multiple Slalom World Cup wins this season, is huge.

The 2018 Olympic GS champion has been searingly honest about her challenges in re-finding her best skiing after her horror crash during the second run of the Killington World Cup GS in November 2024. In her three comeback GS races last season she had a best finish of 25^th and while things have got considerably better this season – with three fourth place finishes – there was still something missing. Until Spindleruv Mlyn on Sunday.

“In Kronplatz I had some of my best turns and some little mistakes. I watched the top women just thinking, ‘I don’t think I can go that fast’,” Shiffrin said. “But then I took a step back, came here and I’ve been feeling good the past days. Every day is a new opportunity, so you just take that and go for it.”

Always a passionate team player, the USA’s overall performance was the icing on the cake for the all-time most successful World Cup skier.

“To cross the finish line, I gave it my all, saw the red light but then immediately saw Paula-Mikaela-Nina, Team USA the top one-two-three. I never experienced something like that before,” Shiffrin said smiling. “This was just a really special day.”

Alice Robinson (NZL/Salomon) is one skier who could do with a jolt of Team USA’s good vibes. Since finishing second in the Val D’Isere Super G just before Christmas, the 2025 GS World Championship silver medallist has had two DNFs in the GS followed by a 13^th in Kronplatz last week. And a failure to qualify for the second run, after a first effort that left her 4.28 seconds back, was not what Robinson fans would have been hoping for.

Check out the full results from the women’s GS in Spindleruv Mlyn here, with the latest season standings in the race for the GS Crystal Globe here - with Julia Scheib (AUT/Rossignol) still leading despite skiing out in the second run.

Also, do please head to Reuters Connect and Actionpress.de to view and purchase a wide selection of superb photographs like those above from this race and indeed from all FIS events.