The Albany Gazette - Swiss skier Rast wins giant slalom, pays tribute to Crans-Montana victims

Rast, the slalom world champion, led after the first run and, despite a mistake in the second, she won the first World Cup race of 2026 in a combined time of 2mins 0.09sec.

Austria's Julia Scheib came in second, at 0.20s, to add to her three wins in the discipline already this season.

American Paula Moltzan at 0.47s completed the podium with her superstar compatriot Mikaela Shiffrin in fifth.

After crossing the line Rast pointed to the black armband she was wearing on her left arm as a mark of respect to Wednesday's tragedy at a bar at the historic Swiss ski resort which left 40 dead and 119 injured.

"First of all, I want to say that there was a tragic accident back home in Switzerland, and I'm thinking of all the bereaved families; I ran for them," said Rast, who grew up not far from Crans-Montana.

There was an upset in the first run when New Zealand's Alice Robinson failed to finish a week after suffering the same fate at Semmering.

With this performance Rast was laying down a marker as a contender for an Olympic gold medal at the Cortina-Milan Games in five weeks time.

"I've finally found my rhythm. I'm still working hard, but above all I'm taking enormous pleasure on my skis," she said.

Rast moves second behind Shiffrin in the overall World Cup standings, 140 points off the American, with Robinson dropping to third.

The Swiss skier is second in the giant slalom standings, 119 points behind Scheib.

(B.Smith--TAG)