From Jaufental, ITA
(February 3, 2024) – Evelin Lanthler once again dominated the hills of Italy as she won handily in the Jaufental stop of the FIL World Cup on Natural Track.
Lanthaler had the quickest start in both heats and the fastest downtime in both heats on her way to a 2.62 second victory over Austria’s Riccarda Ruetz.
Lanthaler’s first run was .71 quicker than Ruetz’s, with Italy’s Nadine Staffler in third as the only slider within a second of Lanthaler.
In the second heat Ruetz held off Italy’s Tina Stuffer by just .06 to hold onto the lead with only Lanthaler still to go.
Lanthaler, as she’s been known to do a time or two, once again put down a big run. A 53.87 downtime was over a full second quicker than anyone else and more than enough to take gold.
The gold was Lanthaler’s 26th straight and 37th in her last 38 racaces.
Ruetz finished with a silver medal, her fourth in five races. Stuffer finished .12 ahead of Austria’s Tina Unterberger to win bronze, her first medal of the season.
Unterberger finished fourth, Staffler fifth, and Jenny Castiglioni sixth. Italy and Austria took all eight of the top eight finishing positions.
USA’s Katie Cookman finished 12th, one spot ahead of Canada’s Nadja Loder.
With one race left in the 2023/2024 FIL World Cup on Natural Track season, Lanthaler has a 100 point lead over Ruetz. Ruetz is 123 points ahead of Unterberger, close to clinching second overall, while Unterberger has Jenny Castiglioni and Daniela Mittermair both within shouting distance of third overall.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Evelin Lanthaler | ITA | 17 | 9.81 | 9.80 | 54.12 | 53.87 | 1:47.99 |
| 2 | Riccarda Ruetz | AUT | 16 | 9.90 | 10.03 | 54.83 | 55.78 | 1:50.61 |
| 3 | Tina Stuffer | ITA | 4 | 10.19 | 10.22 | 55.47 | 55.20 | 1:50.67 |
| 4 | Tina Unterberger | AUT | 14 | 10.22 | 10.10 | 55.49 | 55.30 | 1:50.79 |
| 5 | Nadine Staffler | ITA | 12 | 10.09 | 10.06 | 55.08 | 55.89 | 1:50.97 |
| 6 | Jenny Castiglioni | ITA | 13 | 10.02 | 10.22 | 55.21 | 55.89 | 1:51.10 |
| 7 | Naomi Thöni | AUT | 8 | 10.08 | 10.18 | 55.51 | 56.53 | 1:52.04 |
| 8 | Hanna Nagele | AUT | 6 | 10.10 | 10.18 | 56.56 | 55.94 | 1:52.50 |
| 9 | Sarah Schiller | GER | 6 | 10.21 | 10.46 | 56.58 | 56.61 | 1:53.19 |
| 10 | Patricija Urbanc | CRO | 11 | 10.59 | 10.65 | 59.41 | 57.62 | 1:57.03 |
| 11 | Meta Mekina | GER | 5 | 10.68 | 10.77 | 59.09 | 59.03 | 1:58.12 |
| 12 | Katie Cookman | USA | 7 | 10.67 | 10.75 | 57.96 | 61.91 | 1:59.87 |
| 13 | Nadja Loder | CAN | 9 | 10.80 | 10.91 | 60.19 | 59.86 | 2:00.05 |
| 14 | Seine Wyss | SUI | 2 | 10.68 | 10.76 | 60.69 | 60.07 | 2:00.76 |
| 15 | Maja Poda | POL | 1 | 11.40 | 11.21 | 64.82 | 64.28 | 2:09.10 |