Semmering is a town in the district of Neunkirchen in the Austrian state of Lower Austria.
The Women's Ski World Cup at Semmering will take place on December 27th, 28th and 29th.
On December 1995, the first Women's Ski World Cup races were held at Hirschenkogel in Semmering.
In 2020, in the last race held in Semmering Michelle Gisin achieved her first World Cup Win in Slalom. Until then she was on the podium nine times without a single win.
With Semmering's victory, Gisin ended for Switzerland a World Cup drought of 162 events in the women's slalom without a single victory, the longest in any discipline.
Only 0.11 sec behind Gisin, Katharina Liensberger finished in second place.
The leader of the first run, Mikaela Shiffrin, was able to stay on the podium but finished in third place, 0.57 sec. behind the winner.
Semmering (AUT)
December 27th Giant Slalom/ Women (replaces Sölden) 1 run 10:00 / 2 run 13:00 CET
December 28th Giant Slalom/ Women 1 run 10:00 / 2 run 13:00 CET
December 29th Slalom / Women 1 run 15:00 / 2 run 18:30 CET
After a year of doubt, Marta Bassino seems to have returned to the form that allowed her to win the Giant Slalom Crystal Globe in 2021. The Italian skier finished in Sestriere 0.11 ahead of hard-charging Sara Hector, and 0.40 of Petra Vlhova.
After being the most consistent racer in the discipline in the 2020-2021 season, last season she failed to show the same consistency and win a Giant Slalom race. But she finished in a good shape the competition with two second places in the Finals in Courchevel-Meribel and in Åre.
For Bassino it was the first win in the World Cup in almost 2 years.
The 26-year-old Italian has won six Giant Slalom World Cup races. She claimed her previous five victories in Killington, Sölden, Courchevel and Kranjska Gora (2). The two Italian women with the most victories in Giant Slalom are Deborah Compagnoni (13), and Federica Brignone (8).
Sara Hector claimed six World Cup podiums in the Giant Slalom last season, including wins in Courchevel, Kranjska Gora, and Kronplatz. The Swede had collected three podiums in her first 76 Alpine Ski World Cup Giant Slalom participations combined (Åre and Küthai in 2014, and Courchevel in 2020).
Her injury deprived her to become the second Swedish winner of the Women's Giant Slalom crystal globe, after Anja Pärson (2002-2003, 2003-2004, 2005-2006).
Hector won the Olympic Giant Slalom gold in Beijing.
Petra Vlhova has claimed the first ever World Championships gold medal for Slovakia at the 2019 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Åre (SWE) in the Giant Slalom event.
Six of her 26 victories in the World Cup came in the Giant Slalom, and 15 of her 60 podiums were also in this discipline.
In Killington Lara Gut-Behrami put two clean and fast runs together to win the fifth World Cup Giant Slalom of her career.
Lara Gut-Behrami claimed 5 of her 35 World Cup wins in the Giant Slalom. She was on the podium 66 times in the World Cup, fiveteen of them in Giant Slalom.
Last season Tessa Worley won the Giant Slalom Crystal Globe. It was her second World Cup title after winning the Giant Slalom Crystal Globe in the 2016-2017 season.
With 16 victories, Tessa Worley is in second place, tied with Annemarie Moser-Pröll, on the women's list for most World Cup wins in the Giant Slalom. Vreni Schneider tops this list with 20.
Worley finished on the podium in each of the last five women's World Cup Giant Slalom races held in Semmering, including a victory on 2010.
Mikaela Shiffrin has claimed 14 World Cup victories in the Giant slalom. She is fourth in the women's list for most World Cup wins in the Giant Slalom behind Vreni Schneider (20), Tessa Worley (16), and Annemarie Moser-Pröll (16).
Shiffrin recorded only one podium finish in her seven World Cup Giant Slalom participations in 2022, a third place in Åre on 11 March. She won two World Cup Giant Slalom events in Semmering, six years ago on 27 and 28 December 2016.
Last season,Federica Brignone earned her first Giant Slalom win at the Courchevel-Meribel 2022 Finals. Italian women won at least one World Cup Giant Slalom event in each of the last seven seasons (2015-2016 to 2021-2022).
Brignone achieved eight of her 20 World Cup victories in Giant Slalom. Also 26 of her 49 podiums came in the same discipline.
Austrian women have won a record 93 Giant Slalom races in the World Cup, but not since Eva-Maria Brem won in Jasná in March 2016.
After sharing the top of the podium with Anna Swenn Larsson in the previous Slalom race in Killington, Wendy Holdener won in Sestriere her second race in the discipline. It was her third podium of the season after finishing in second position in the second Slalom held in Levi. She is the first Swiss female skier to win back-to-back World Cup slalom events since Vreni Schneider in 1994 (six in a row). It's her 47 career World Cup podium, 32nd in the discipline.
Mikaela Shiffrin finished in second place. It was her 123 podium in the World Cup. Only Ingemar Stenmark (155), Marcel Hirscher (138), and Lindsey Vonn (137), have claimed more podiums in the World Cup than Mikaela Shiffrin.
Shiffrin won both World Cup Slalom races in Levi. Shiffrin has won 77 World Cup events. After her win in the Super-G in St. Moritz is one step closer to Lindsey Vonn (82) as record holder among women. The only man to have won more World Cup events is Ingemar Stenmark (86).
Shiffrin won the women's World Cup slalom in Semmering in 2016 and 2018.
Petra Vlhova finished in third place. Since the beginning of last season, Vlhová finished in the top four in all 13 women's World Cup Slalom events, including 11 podium finishes (three more than any other woman in this period). Sestriere's podium was her 61st in the World Cup.
Petra Vlhova won last season's Slalom crystal globe. In 2022 Vlhová has equaled Anja Pärson (both 17) in sixth place on the women's list for most World Cup Slalom victories. Janica Kostelic (20) is in fifth place.
Last season Katharina Liensberger won the last slalom event held before the Finals. It was her third World Cup win in this discipline (all in March), after back-to-back wins in the 2020-2021 season in Åre and the 2021 World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide. Until Åre, last World Cup season, the 24-year-old skier from Vorarlberg had claimed two podium finishes in the Slalom: second in Lienz on 29 December and third in Zagreb on 4 January. The four Austrian women to have claimed more than three World Cup slalom victories are Marlies Schild (35), Roswitha Steiner (8), Gertrud Gabl (5), and Nicole Hosp (5). Lena Dürr is hoping to become the first German woman to record a World Cup slalom victory since Maria Höfl-Riesch in Levi on 10 November 2012. Dürr can become the oldest German woman to win a World Cup event (including East/West Germany). Viktoria Rebensburg holds the current record as she won the Garmisch-Partenkirchen downhill on 8 February 2020 at age 30y-127d.
In Killington's Slalom Anna Swenn Larsson finished in the top of the podium with Holdener. Swenn-Larsson can become the first female Swedish skier to win multiple World Cup Slalom events in a single season since Anja Pärson won three in 2005-2006.