Beijing 2022: Sara Hector wins gold in the women’s GS

Heading into the second run of the women’s GS, Sara Hector (SWE) was leading the pack with a 0.30-second margin over Austrian, Katharina Truppe, and a 0.42 second lead on Federica Brignone (ITA).

The Swede tackled the second run and managed to hold onto the 1st place to claim her very first Olympic medal, and it being gold, made it all that much sweeter.

On winning gold:
"Crazy. I'm so proud, I can't put it into words.
"I really tried to push it and give it all I got. It's just amazing."

On her emotions:
"I don't know how to describe them. It's been so much all day. I've been so nervous. It's so much feeling, it's crazy. It's for sure a lot of joy."

After finishing third in the first run, Federica Brignone (ITA) was ready and set to affront the second run to try and claim another Olympic GS medal. The Italian placed 3rd in 2018, however, this season has not yet claimed at World Cup GS podium result. Focusing on the run ahead of her, she finished with a total time difference of 0.28 seconds behind Hector.

On her performance:
"I came here without a podium in GS. I'm getting better and better with my confidence this year, but GS was always like OK, I'm doing a run OK, or some splits OK, but never two runs. Today I was really focused and when I put my poles out for the second run - we were waiting so much for the second run, and also the start.
"I was waiting and waiting and I said 'oh my god, this is so long'. But in some way I was calm. I knew that I just had to ski, I was thinking about my skiing, and when I arrived to the gate I said, 'it's just ski racing'.
"I was really focused, and that was the thing for me today."

On what the medal means:
"A lot. Four years ago I was third, and before coming here I said if I come back with one medal that would be a great dream for me. Doing it at the first race, it's amazing."

In third place, Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI) was thrilled after claiming her first Olympic GS podium result. The Swiss skier has recently been struggling to put in consistent performances throughout the World Cup season so was uneasy coming into today’s race.

On claiming a medal:
"I've been struggling a lot in the last time. One day I'm skiing well, the other one I'm just fighting.
"Today was exactly the same. The first run I was trying and nothing went well. The second run was again easy, so I'm really happy. It's amazing to win a medal in GS."

On her goals as a skier:
"In my career I never set myself goals or that I want a medal because I know I have to focus on skiing. My mind has been like, it would be cool to win a GS medal because for me GS is important.
"Last year, winning a gold in Cortina (at the world championships), and now this bronze — yeah, it's amazing."

After her first run, Petra Vlhova (SVK) was sitting in 13th place however was struggling with the conditions on the course today. Finishing 14th, the Slovakian was not satisfied with her performance and felt that something was missing.

On her performance:
"I am not so satisfied about my performance today. Something was missing, and I was a bit in trouble with the conditions. I tried to do my best, but it was not enough."

On what she was missing:
"I was a bit in trouble with the conditions and this kind of snow. I was not able to be clean.
"I tried to do everything, I gave my best. This is sport and sometimes it can be good, and sometimes no."

Unfortunately, Katharina Truppe (AUT) was not able to hold onto her podium finish, and placed 4th just 0.08 seconds behind Gut-Behrami. Tessa Worley who was also a prime candidate to fight for a medal didn’t have luck on her side today as she failed to complete her second run.

Athletes will be competing again on February 9th in the women’s slalom. The first run is scheduled to start at 10:15 local time / 03:15 CET and the second run at 13:45 local time / 06:45 CET.

Quotes courtesy of the Olympic Information Service