KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia — Camille Rast briefly celebrated by raising both hands in the air after crossing the finish line. She then patted the black mourning band twice on her left upper arm and made a heart sign with her hands.
Shortly after taking the first win of his career in the World Cup giant slalom on Saturday, the Swiss skier dedicated the victory to the victims of the Crans-Montana bar fire.
“This week, in my hometown, there was a tragic accident and I think about those families. We race for them this weekend,” said Rast, who was born in Waitrose, a village about 40 kilometers from Crans-Montana in the canton of Valais.
“It was a tough week. But there are a lot of emotions in sports, so I tried to do my best and give those guys some good emotions,” he said.
Forty people have been killed and more than 100 injured in a fire that broke out in a crowded bar at a Swiss ski resort during New Year’s celebrations.
Crans-Montana is set to host the World Cup speed races for women on January 30-31 and for men on February 1, the last events before the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Rast’s victory came a week after finishing second in the GS in Austria, which was the best result of his career in the discipline at the time. His two previous World Cup wins came in slalom, most recently in January 2025, a month before he added a world title in that discipline.
Rast beat second-place Julia Scheib of Austria by two-tenths, while Paula Moltzen finished third, 0.47 behind the American, for her second podium result of the season.
Teammate Mikaela Shiffrin was fifth, just one second behind Olympic GS champion Sara Hector of Sweden, who posted the second-fastest run time.
Eighth-place Nina O’Brien and 14th-place Elizabeth Bocock matched the U.S. Ski Team’s strong performance, matching their career-best results from the GS in Sweden in March 2023.
“It’s a really fun team to be a part of,” Moltzen said. “I mean, I never really know who’s going to be fastest in training, but on race day I feel the same way.”
Moltzen raced with an injured back after a nasty crash in the GS the previous week. His career best result in the discipline is second place from the opening race of the season in October.
Moltzen said, “I’m really happy and feeling a little relieved. Last week, it was extremely hard for me. I still probably don’t feel 100%. So it feels really good to be able to get it over with. I have some injury on my spine.”
“Actually every time I hit it it doesn’t really feel that good. I’m very lucky that the snow is actually quite smooth here, so it feels less painful.”
Shiffrin holds the women’s record for 22 World Cup wins in this field. But with six weeks to go until the Feb. 15 giant slalom at the Olympics, the 2018 gold medalist is not on a GS podium for 11 World Cup races through January 2024.
Shiffrin suffered from PTSD last season after a horrific crash at her home race in Killington in November 2024 and has been attempting to climb back into the GS rankings since her return more than two months later.
Shiffrin told Austrian TV after the first stage, when asked if she was 100% happy with her race, she said, “Happy and satisfied are different, because I would like to be faster, but I am making steps and I feel very good about it.”
“Last year, I remember watching this race from home and thinking, ‘Oh, I can’t do that.’ So, to come here a year later and be among the fastest women right now is pretty incredible.”
Scheib, who has won three races this season, extended his lead in the GS standings as his nearest rival, New Zealand’s Ellis Robinson, crashed out in the first race for the second consecutive race, this time on the course set by his coach Nils Koburger. Rast is now in second place, 119 points behind Scheib.
Shiffrin remains in the overall lead, 140 points ahead of runner-up Rast.
A slalom on the same hill is scheduled for Sunday. There is no men’s World Cup race this weekend.
