From Winterleiten, AUT
(December 22, 2024) – For the second time in two days Evelin Lanthaler slid to a decisive victory in Winterleiten.
The Italian was the final slider off the top in the first heat and slid to a .37 second advantage over Austria’s Tina Unterberger. Behind them, a handful of sliders, including Lotte Musler, Tina Stuffer, Daniela Mittermair, and Riccarda Ruetz all sought a spot on a podium.
In the second heat, Mittermaier slid to the lead, taking it from Germany’s Lisa Walch. Her lead would only last about a minute and a half, as Austria’s Ruetz took over with a quick slide of her own.
Mulser, the newest contender from Italy, couldn’t match her first heat pace, and fell behind Walch, putting Ruetz within a spot of the podium.
But Italy’s Stuffer was consistent with a second slide that was only a tenth off her first to put her into the lead with Unterberger and Lanthaler to go.
Unterberger did what she needed to, putting down a time that was quickest to that point, but she needed a big mistake from Lanthaler to take gold.
That mistake never came. Lanthaler set the quickest start of the race, and had the quickest split all the way down on her way to a 1.18 second victory over Unterberger, with Stuffer third.
The win was the 53rd World Cup victory of Lanthaler’s career, her 30th straight win and 41st in the last 42 races.
For Unterberger, silver marked her 30th podium, while Stuffer’s bronze was her second medal in her young World Cup career.
Ruetz took fourth, Mittermaier fifth, and Walch sixth.
The United States’ Katie Cookman had another pair of solid slides on her way to an 11th place finish, while Canada’s Nadja Loder finished 16th.
After two races on the FIL World Cup calendar, Evelin Lanthaler leads by 55 points over Tina Unterberger, with Daniela Mittermair in third, only five points behind Unterberger. Tina Stuffer and Riccarda Ruetz round out the top five.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Evelin Lanthaler | ITA | 22 | 4.39 | 4.35 | 61.39 | 61.23 | 2:02.62 |
| 2 | Tina Unterberger | AUT | 20 | 4.60 | 4.58 | 61.76 | 62.04 | 2:03.80 |
| 3 | Tina Stuffer | ITA | 15 | 4.39 | 4.42 | 62.07 | 62.17 | 2:04.24 |
| 4 | Riccarda Ruetz | AUT | 21 | 4.33 | 4.35 | 62.14 | 62.21 | 2:04.35 |
| 5 | Daniela Mittermair | ITA | 13 | 4.48 | 4.52 | 62.15 | 62.56 | 2:04.71 |
| 6 | Lisa Walch | GER | 19 | 4.67 | 4.71 | 62.38 | 62.72 | 2:05.10 |
| 7 | Lotte Musler | ITA | 3 | 4.38 | 4.39 | 62.11 | 63.20 | 2:05.31 |
| 8 | Naomi Thöni | AUT | 10 | 4.62 | 5.68 | 63.07 | 63.61 | 2:06.68 |
| 9 | Carina Miller | AUT | 9 | 4.53 | 4.55 | 63.47 | 64.12 | 2:07.59 |
| 10 | Ruby Holland-Moritz | GER | 1 | 4.54 | 4.58 | 62.23 | 65.68 | 2:11.91 |
| 11 | Katie Cookman | USA | 11 | 4.79 | 4.73 | 66.28 | 65.98 | 2:12.26 |
| 12 | Patricija Urbanc | CRO | 16 | 4.95 | 4.87 | 65.77 | 66.63 | 2:12.40 |
| 13 | Maja Poda | POL | 7 | 4.58 | 4.63 | 69.64 | 69.32 | 2:18.96 |
| 14 | Magdalena Enig | GER | 4 | 5.26 | 5.25 | 71.30 | 71.76 | 2:23.06 |
| 15 | Katerina Stehlikova | CZE | 2 | 4.88 | 4.83 | 74.14 | 72.41 | 2:26.55 |
| 16 | Nadja Loder | CAN | 12 | 5.08 | 5.03 | 73.36 | 73.86 | 2:27.22 |
| 17 | Lea Krissakova | SVK | 8 | 4.88 | 4.90 | 73.25 | 77.10 | 2:30.35 |
| 18 | Alexandra Deac | ROU | 5 | 5.42 | 5.30 | 92.55 | 78.65 | 2:51.20 |
| 19 | Mihaela Boca | ROU | 6 | 5.17 | 5.07 | 84.25 | 102.09 | 3:06.34 |