Andreja Slokar wins Lech/Zuers parallel as favourites miss out

One race, one win, one crystal globe trophy.

That was the order of the day for Slovenia's Andreja Slokar, who claimed her first career FIS Alpine Ski World Cup win in style in Lech/Zuers, Austria, on Saturday (13 November).

The 24-year-old – who had only three prior World Cup top ten finishes in her career and none in the top five – overcame a 0.12-second deficit against Norway's Thea Louise Stjernesund to clinch the parallel event in the Austrian resort by a narrow 0.05-second margin.

With Lech/Zuers serving as the only parallel stop on this year's World Caup, the win gives the Slovenian native the discipline crystal globe trophy for the season too.

The victory is also the first for Livio Magoni as the new coach of the Slovenian team after his split with Slovakia's defending overall champion Petra Vlhova.

Dramatic qualifying session

Although the event was missing its big names – Mikaela Shiffrin and Vlhova, to name two – there was no shortage of drama.

The morning's qualifying session saw some big names like Meta Hrovat and Paula Moltzan fail to make the top 16.

American Moltzan, second in this event last season, was eliminated in particularly controversial circumstances. 

Her start gate malfunctioned multiple times, forcing her to take qualifying on the red course alone instead of racing another athlete on the blue course. 

It clearly threw her concentration off as she crashed in a scary fall in which she went over on her head and neck, but was able to get up and walk away from it.

Historic best finishes for finalists

Slokar and Stjernesund had qualified in second and first after the qualifying runs, before coming through the evening finals in heavy snowfall to reach the big final.

Their route to the final was arguably made easier by the early eliminations of favourites Lara Gut-Behrami – in her 300th World Cup race –and joint-world champion Katharina Liensberger, who both missed gates on their second runs in the round of 16.

Liensberger's reigning co-champion Marta Bassino of Italy made it as far as the semifinals, but failed to finish her first run putting her at a big disadvantage to Stjernesund, who eased to victory in their matchup.

Bassino would go on to be defeated by Kristin Lysdahl of Norway in the small final for third and fourth place. It was Lysdahl's first World Cup podium.

Even though Stjernesund finished second, this too marks her best individual World Cup result. She had previously finished sixth and seventh in parallel races, as well as second in the team parallel event at the 2019 World Cup Finals in Andorra.