Zubcic gets redemption in Bansko

After finishing just out of medal range in fourth place at the Cortina World Championships in the giant slalom, Croatian Filip Zubcic exacted his revenge today, claiming his second World Cup victory of the season.

Zubcic and France’s Mathieu Faivre were neck-in-neck after the first run, with the Cortina double-gold medalist holding a slim 0.11 advantage after the first run. Faivre’s teammate Alexis Pinturault was in third place after the first run 0.68 seconds behind, with the rest of the field after the top-five, trailing by a good distance.

But warm conditions and a strong sun beating down on the course opened things for the rest of the field as course got slower the longer the second run went on. It was only thanks to the solid leads built in the first run, that the top names remained on the podium as nearly all turned in much slower performances in the second run.

The victory came down to the wire as Faivre gained time before the last interval, giving Zubcic some stressful moments, but Faivre ultimately had to settle for second place finishing 0.40 seconds behind.

Third place went to surprise finisher Stefan Brennsteiner (AUT) who earned his first career World Cup podium, climbing up two positions in the second run. After both Pinturault and Kristoffersen crossed the finish line with slower times, the Austrian celebration started as Brennsteiner knew he was guaranteed a podium finish.

Despite his fourth-place finish today, Pinturault still holds the lead in the Overall World Cup standings, but with today’s victory, Zubcic made the hunt for the small globe in a giant slalom very interesting as Pinturault now leads the Croatian by only 22 points.

The chase for giant slalom points will continue tomorrow as Bansko prepares to host the second GS race of the weekend on Sunday.