Hurt, Moltzan Top 10 in Sestriere Giant Slalom

On Saturday’s second giant slalom race in Sestriere, Italy. Stifel U.S. Ski Team athlete AJ Hurt posted her season best result in seventh with Paula Moltzan close behind in eighth place. 

“I feel like I'm feeling more like myself from last year, I feel pretty good,” said AJ Hurt. 

The weather proved to be opposite from the day before that brought sunshine. Instead there was a deep fog that sat at the top of the hill for some time. Regardless of the difficult visibility the race went on as planned. The first run was challenging with a straight set but flat light, which meant the women had to take more risk. The top 10 stacked with less than a second from first to 10th. 

The women ended up throwing four women into the second run all very close together with their times. In the flip included up-and-coming junior athlete Elisabeth Bocock who previously scored her first points in Killington earlier this season. 

On the second run the sun started to peak out which made the light much better on the course. With the stronger visibility amongst the packed house of Italian fans, it was going to be an exciting second run. First Bocock skied fierce to land in the points and ultimately tie her season best result of 23rd. Then AJ Hurt ripped down the course to earn her season best result of seventh place. Moltzan had quite a few errors but still managed to land eighth. 

“I just feel like I was able to find more confidence here and have some good turns and finish it off well,” said Hurt. “It feels really cool to be part of the U.S. team right now. There's so many girls doing that well and I am very proud of them all.” 

The winner of the race was Italian Federica Brignone, who wowed the home crowd with her fantastic skiing; second place was Swiss skier Lara Gut-Behrami, and in third was New Zealand’s Alice Robinson.  Stifel U.S. Ski Team skiers Nina O’Brien, Katie Hensien and Mary Bocock did not finish but are OK. 

The tech women will now switch to slalom on Sunday. 

RESULTS 
women's giant slalom 

HOW TO WATCH 
3:45 a.m. ET - women’s slalom, run 1, Sestriere, ITA - skiandsnowboard.live
6:15 a.m. ET - women’s slalom, run 2, Sestriere, ITA - skiandsnowboard.live