Andy Devaney
Semmering doesn’t do subtle. It does edge-of-your-seat, breath-held-at-the-finish-line sport — the kind where medals are decided by the blink you didn’t take and the exhale you forgot to release. Over one bruising weekend in Austria, Camille Rast came within a whisker of winning two World Cup races, while the HEAD Worldcup Rebels left Semmering with podiums, top-tens, and the sort of momentum you can hear humming through the start gate.
Rast was second in Sunday’s slalom and second again in Saturday’s giant slalom, missing victory by nine hundredths and then 14 hundredths respectively. Sara Hector added another Semmering podium to her growing collection, and in Livigno — hosting a World Cup race for the first time — Franjo von Allmen grabbed third in the Super-G to cap a busy, high-speed end to the year.
“Camille Rast almost reached the top of the podium twice this weekend. Still, I reckon she will be satisfied with ending the year so well. She is getting close to the level that she wants to be at. These were really close deciders, but somehow the hundredths of a second are on her side,” said HEAD Racing Director Rainer Salzgeber. “Livigno hosted a superb event. The course was prepared so that everyone had a good race. The high bib numbers also had a good opportunity. Franjo von Allmen was very keen to get a clean finish after dropping out in Beaver Creek and Val d’Isere. He skied a steady run, which makes this podium all the more satisfying. Vincent Kriechmayr was well in front on the first section of the run, so it was extremely frustrating that he dropped out. You can see that the speed is there though.”
Sunday slalom: nine hundredths from glory in Semmering
In the slalom on Sunday, Rast did what all the best racers do in Semmering: she put down a first run that made everyone else look like they were negotiating a different mountain. The 26-year-old Swiss athlete led after run one, then clocked the second-fastest time on the second run — and still ended up second overall, just nine hundredths short of a third World Cup victory.
Behind her, the Semmering scoreboard had a distinctly Rebel tint. Wendy Holdener finished sixth, Cornelia Öhlund seventh, Eliane Christen ninth, and Dzenifera Germane tenth — with Christen landing her first-ever World Cup top ten. In a slalom that chewed up plenty of racers, points also went to Lena Dürr (17th), Carla Mijares Ruf (18th, her first World Cup points), Estelle Alphand (19th), and Aline Höpli (20th).
Saturday giant slalom: another near-miss, another podium
If Semmering taught Rast anything this weekend, it’s that you can do almost everything right and still be chasing hundredths like they owe you money. On Saturday’s giant slalom, she was fifth after the first run, then uncorked the second-fastest time on run two to clinch her first giant slalom podium of the season — and the best result of her giant slalom career so far.
“I skied at top speed. My coach told me at the start that the green light has to go on at the finish, and that I need a half a second lead to get onto the podium. It was a wild ride on both runs,” said Camille Rast at the finish.
That last line could be the unofficial motto of Semmering. It’s never tidy. It’s never comfortable. And it rarely rewards anything less than full commitment.
Sara Hector makes Semmering her personal podium postcode
Hector arrived in Semmering with a habit: she tends to ski this hill like she knows where it hides the time. Leading after the first run, the Swede finished third overall — her second giant slalom podium in Semmering after taking second place last season.
“I tried to focus fully on me and my skiing. It wasn’t easy and the line I took left too much space. I was skiing with the brakes on a little, which you shouldn’t do. But standing on the podium is cool,” said Sara Hector, “I am really pleased.”
Lena Dürr made it into tenth, while more World Cup points followed for Holdener (15th), Kajsa Vickhoff Lie (16th), Emma Aicher (19th), A J Hurt (21st), and Vanessa Kasper (22nd).
Livigno debut delivers: von Allmen lands Super-G top three
While Semmering was serving up technical theatre, Livigno was busy introducing itself to the World Cup calendar — and doing so with a Super-G that rewarded composure as much as courage. Von Allmen celebrated the venue’s first World Cup race by finishing third, his first Super-G podium of the season, after previously dropping out of both Super-G races. He ended the day just 25 hundredths behind winner Marco Schwarz.
“I was skiing a bit cautiously, but I am very satisfied with this result,” said Franjo von Allmen, who dropped out of both of the previous Super-G races, and finished just 25 hundredths of a second behind the winner, Marco Schwarz.
Simon Jocher’s bib 32 blitz: best World Cup result yet
If anyone needed a reminder that start numbers don’t always tell the story, Jocher provided it. Starting with bib 32, the 29-year-old German flew into fifth place — just six hundredths off the podium — to record his best World Cup result so far. Guglielmo Bosca took eighth, Stefan Babinsky finished 11th, Ryan Cochran-Siegle 13th, and Lukas Feurstein 17th.
Semmering, then, ends the year as it so often does: with the sport’s margins laid bare, the nerves exposed, and the racers who can live in those margins walking away with the prizes.
Rast didn’t get the wins, but she left Semmering with something nearly as valuable — proof she’s right on the doorstep, hand already on the handle.
