Sweden’s Sara Hector wins gold in the women’s giant slalom at the Olympics in Beijing
BEIJING – Swedish skier Sara Hector ended a new career in the best possible way, and won the gold medal in the women’s giant slalom at the Olympics in Beijing on Monday for her first individual victory in a major championship.
The 29-year-old Hector completed two runs on a course called The Ice River at the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center in an unofficial total time of 1 minute, 55.69 seconds. She was fastest down the hill in the first run and an eighth fastest second leg was enough for her to stay.
Federica Brignone from Italy was 0.28 seconds slower over the two legs to add a silver medal to the bronze she won in GS at the Pyeongchang Games 2018 behind champion Mikaela Shiffrin, who fell during Monday’s opening hours earlier and was eliminated.
Lara Gut-Behrami from Switzerland was third, 0.72 after Hector, and now has another bronze left next to what she collected in the downhill at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
When Hector crossed the border, she raised her ski poles over her head and shouted to celebrate before being embraced by Brignone and Gut-Behrami.
Hector won his first World Cup victory all the way back in December 2014 – and then waited for seven years to become number 2 in December. And then suddenly, as if she had discovered the secret to success, she hit No. 3 and 4 in January. Everyone was in the giant slalom.
Now, in February, Hector has his most important triumph of all.
Her previous record at the top competitions in alpine skiing? In four races during two previous trips to the Olympics, Hector has never done better than 10th place. And in 10 individual races over six appearances in the world championships, the best thing she did was to come seventh (even though she participated in three team competition medals at worlds).
After winning two weeks ago in San Vigilio di Marebbe, Italy, she tried to explain this latest run that placed her at the top of the World Cup giant slalom transition on the way to Beijing.
She said she was “easily settled” and that created problems for her. But recently, Hector said then, she can “really feel calm” and that allows her to focus better.
“It took me a long time to understand what I needed,” she said. “Now I know a lot more about what I need and it’s been cool to find out.”
Monday’s race was delayed by about 15 minutes when American Nina O’Brien, who was sixth fastest in the opening race, screamed in pain over the finish line after tripping through the last gate when her skis crossed in front of her. She was checked by medical personnel and American team personnel before being taken away on a sled.
U.S. Ski Team spokeswoman Megan Harrod said O’Brien was “alert and responsive.”
The skier just before, Tessa Worley from France, owner of four world titles and currently second in the World Cup GS standings, crashed on the lower part of the track and hit a gate when she tried a left turn. She spun around, dropped a ski and slid down the hill before getting up and taking the rest of the way to the bottom.