Zubcic dominates final run to win title
Skier comes from 0.69 seconds behind to win his 2nd World Cup race
Used to training in bad weather, Filip Zubcic felt comfortable racing in dense snowfall in the Italian Alps on Saturday to win his second World Cup race.
Defying flat light, the Croatian skier had a blistering second run to edge half-time leader Zan Kranjec and win a giant slalom on the Deborah Compagnoni course.
Zubcic was 0.69 seconds off the lead after the opening run but posted the second-fastest time in the final and beat Kranjec by 0.12 seconds.
“The slope was really difficult,” Zubcic said. “(It’s) snowing, but I skied really good. I had a lot of trainings in conditions like these so for me it was quite normal. I am a really strong skier, I have the power and that’s why when the conditions are tough, I can ski really fast.”
Swiss duo Marco Odermatt and Loic Meillard finished third and fourth, respectively.
Overall World Cup leader Alexis Pinturault was eighttenths off the lead in fifth, followed by American racer Tommy Ford in sixth.
Competing on the World Cup for eight years, Zubcic failed to land a podium result until he came runner-up to Kranjec in the classic GS in Adelboden, Switzerland, in January 2020.
The following month he triumphed in Naeba, Japan, before ending the season with another second place in Hinterstoder, Austria, in March.
Defending overall champion Alexander Aamodt Kilde finished 1.31 behind in ninth; Lucas Braathen was 1.86 behind in 12th; and GS world champion Henrik Kristoffersen placed 22nd after he only just avoided a crash in his second run.
Another men’s GS is scheduled for Sunday.
Note: Heavy snowfall and strong winds in St. Moritz forced the cancellation of a women’s super-g race in the Alpine skiing World Cup on Saturday. “All efforts are now focused on (Sunday’s) race hoping for better weather conditions,” the International Ski Federation said.