Nef takes third place in Sweden
Switzerland's Sonja Nef got her Olympic preparations back on track on Thursday, taking third place during a giant slalom World Cup race in Are, Sweden.
The reigning giant slalom world champion and current leader in the discipline’s rankings bounced back from her disappointing 11th place finish in Cortina last weekend to edge onto the Are podium.
Nef was a long way off winning Thursday’s race though with Austria’s Michaela Dorfmeister finishing more than a second and a half ahead of the Swiss star. Sweden’s Anja Paerson took second place in front of a noisy home crowd, coming in just over a second behind Dorfmeister.
Nef could have wrapped up the World Cup in the discipline with a victory in Are, as there is just one race remaining, in Flachau in March. But Dorfmeister’s brilliant performance allowed the Austrian to close the gap on her Swiss opponent in the giant slalom standings to just 20 points.
Nef’s compatriot, Swiss B team racer Fraenzi Aufdenblatten had the best result of her career in Are with a fifth place finish. She completed the race 1.88 seconds behind Dorfmeister, after starting with bib number 29.
Another Swiss, Lilian Kummer, took eighth place in 2’27″09, while Corinne Rey-Bellet finished 16th.
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