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Lenzerheide (dpa) - A day full of emotions: The final decisions have been made in the Alpine Ski World Cup.
The French Alexis Pinturault and the Slovak Petra Vlhova were crowned the overall winners in Lenzerheide, the Austrian Katharina Liensberger the slalom queen of this winter.
The German alpine aces played only minor roles on the penultimate day of the season finale in Switzerland, but did not seem dissatisfied.
In the finish area, Pinturault clapped his hands over his face in disbelief, his wife and press officer Romane, who was a few meters away, had tears in her eyes.
On his 30th birthday, the French presented himself with two crystal balls.
With his victory in the giant slalom, he secured the overall success ahead of time and ousted Marco Odermatt from Switzerland, who was only 11th this time, from the top in the discipline ranking.
The Croatian Filip Zubcic came in second ahead of Pinturault's compatriot and world champion Mathieu Faivre.
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"I've worked so hard for so many years," said Pinturault after his 34th and probably most beautiful World Cup victory to date.
«Thanks to everyone who has always supported me.
It was a tough year with ups and downs. "
And a happy ending for the all-rounder, who had lost a huge lead over Odermatt before the final week in Lenzerheide, but had also benefited from the weather-related cancellations of the speed races on the first few days in Switzerland.
The final slalom on Sunday will now be a show.
The Austrian Marco Schwarz already has the small crystal ball.
Stefan Luitz finished tenth in the last giant slalom of the winter, his German team colleague Alexander Schmid in 15th place. "The race was extremely difficult," said Luitz, referring to the changeable slope conditions, which caused many drivers to shake their heads.
“Everything was demanded of us again”, said Schmid and drew a positive conclusion to the season: “I have taken a few steps forward.
I'm really super, super satisfied. "
The new alpine queen Vlhova did not seem entirely satisfied.
The Slovak woman fulfilled her great dream of her first overall victory, but gave it away in a heartbeat final in the slalom classification.
The 25-year-old finished the last run of the goal in sixth and had to let winner and world champion Liensberger in the discipline classification pass.
Vlhova did not miss a single race this season.
She celebrated six victories, probably the most beautiful at the home World Cup in Jasna two weeks ago.
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In Lenzerheide, however, whiz kid Liensberger had the last word on Saturday.
With a furious final run she relegated the American Mikaela Shiffrin to second place - in the daily standings and in the Slalom World Cup.
Ex-ski star Viktoria Rebensburg described the triumph of the 23-year-old, which Shiffrin and Vlhova had surprisingly intervened at the World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo, as an “achievement like from another planet”.
"That means a lot to me.
I achieved all of this through my good team and my mental coach.
I'm so grateful, "said Liensberger, who showed great nerves.
Third in the last slalom of the winter was Michelle Gisin (Switzerland).
The only German, Lena Dürr, finished in 14th place. As queen of the giant slalom, the Italian Marta Bassino has already been determined before the final act on Sunday.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210320-99-901592 / 2
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Result slalom women
Result of the men's giant slalom
World Cup ranking
News on the homepage of the German Ski Association
Homepage World Ski Federation FIS
Athletes of the German Ski Association