Moltzan claims first World Cup win in Sölden opener

Paula Moltzan opened the Alpine skiing World Cup season with her first career victory, winning Saturday’s giant slalom in Sölden by one hundredth of a second, ORF reported. Lara Colturi, who races for Albania, finished second, with Germany’s Emma Aicher third, 0.52 seconds back.

Austria’s Franziska Gritsch was the only local skier to reach the second run, finishing ninth, 1.12 seconds behind Moltzan. The 29-year-old Tirol skier moved up from 15th with the seventh-fastest time in the second run. It was her sixth giant slalom top-10 finish and her first since March 2024.

Gritsch competed in front of 14,600 spectators. She has trained with a small private team outside Austria’s ski federation for nearly three years. Seven other Austrian skiers failed to qualify for the final.

Defending champion and previous year’s winner Julia Scheib crashed in the first run while on course for the fastest time. She got back on her feet without assistance and said initial checks on her knee were positive, adding that she did not expect a serious injury. Scheib has previously suffered two torn cruciate ligaments.

American Mikaela Shiffrin had the fastest first-run time but finished seventh. Moltzan, 32, had reached the podium ten times before, but had never won. The race start was delayed by half an hour for work on the course after overnight snowfall.