Slovenian Tina Maze never liked her nickname, so she took it upon
herself to eradicate it in the giant slalom as “Silver Tina” finally turned
to gold.
Maze used the two-hour fog delay before the race to amp-up and
get her horns on. “I felt like a bull,” she said. “I couldn’t wait to get going. I wanted the speed and to show what I could do,” said Maze, the
perpetual runner-up with two silver medals at last season’s Olympic
Games, and two World Championships silver medals.
She certainly showed what she could do. The first racer out of the
gate, Maze had a fresh canvas and put down a one minute, 7.05-sec-
ond run that held up through the next 116 racers from 48 nations. A
very intense Maze was repeatedly shown on the big screen watching
as not a single green split-time box appeared on the screen the entire
first run.
Maze truly took on the world as the masses turned up for the GS.
Racers from Brazil, Iran, Israel and China showed up in colorful suits
not regularly seen on the World Cup.
It was Slovenia’s first gold medal (Olympic or World Champs) in any
sport. “I thought: ‘That’s over now. That’s enough,’” said Maze, who
celebrated the win with a cartwheel in the finish area . “For my country
I finally show that even if it is a small country we can still be on top. It
makes a difference.”
Inspired by the medals won by her Italian teammate Christof Innerhofer, Federica Brignone, 20, tried not to think about her chances at
a medal between runs after standing second in the first run. “After the
first run I just decided to risk everything and start over from zero and
that helped me, because that’s how it works at the world championships — either you win everything or you lose everything,” she said.
With a clear mind, Brignone, a two-time World Cup podium finisher,
held on through the second run to take the silver medal by the same
slim margin that kept Maze from the combined top spot (0.09 seconds). Behind Brignone, the Italians were a force with Denise Karbon
— a two-time medalist in GS — in fourth and Manuela Moelgg sixth.
After finishing the first run in 19th position, France’s Tessa Worley
— the World Cup GS leader and winner of three consecutive World
GEPA; ZOOM
Tessa Worley called her GS
bronze “the biggest success
of my career so far.”
The Italian team rallies around GS
silver medalist Federica Brignone.
Mama Mia
As a general rule, journalists are supposed to be
objective observers and reporters of facts. But
no one blamed racer-turned-reporter Maria Rosa
Quario for cheering during the women’s giant
slalom in the media mixed zone as her daughter,
Federica Brignone, won a silver medal.
“It was fun — exciting and stressing because I
had to work and cover the race, too — but above
all it was great,” said Quario, a four-time World
Cup winner in the late 70s and early 80s who now
writes for the Italian magazine Sciare. “It was ter-
rible trying to get my work done. It was the worst
part of my day, to have to write about it. It was
nice but difficult because the race finished very
late and I was rushing to get to the awards cer-
emony and it was all too much.”
Quario said that while she is thrilled that her
daughter followed in her footsteps, skiing has al-
ways been about enjoying the sport. “I had fun
with Federica always, we love skiing in our fam-
ily; we are really passionate about skiing,” said
Quario.
Brignone’s father is a ski coach who signed Fed-
erica up for the ski club when she was 10. As she
entered her teenage years her talent for racing
became obvious. “She won her first important
race when she was 15 and from there it was all so
quick,” said Quario. “She is growing up so quick;
she came up in World Cup and podiumed imme-
diately. She loves it.”
Upon seeing her emotional mother in the finish
area, Brignone said, “Mama, are you still alive?”
— E.W.
Federica Brignone celebrates winning
her giant slalom silver medal with her
mother, Maria Rosa Quario.
