CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — An early Olympic medal contender, Team USA’s Paula Moltzan squeaked into the top-10 of women’s slalom by the wax of her skis.
Moltzan finished eighth in the slalom Wednesday, Feb. 18, eight days after winning bronze with Jackie Wiles in the team combined. Moltzan looked poised to possibly earn her first individual medal at the start gate, but a disastrous first run kept her off the podium, though she rebounded with the fastest time in run No. 2.
Moltzan’s first split of the first run ranked second of 95 skiers. She had the third-fastest second split. And sixth-fastest third split. Her fourth (and final) split ranked 28th, as she nearly missed the fifth-to-last gate and had to practically ski uphill to avoid a disqualification.
That disaster seemingly took her out of medal contention before the second runs even began. But as one of the first skiers to race in Run No. 2, Moltzan showed a glimpse of what could have been.
She had the speediest second trip down the mountain (51.39), over half a second faster than gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin (51.97). Moltzan topped the leaderboard for nearly half the second run, finally relinquishing the overall lead to Switzerland’s Melanie Meillard after 15 skiers had come down.
Moltzan finished the two-run race with a combined time of 1:41.29, finishing just 0.48 seconds off the podium – and incredible comeback after finishing the first run down in 28th place.
‘I’m happy to leave the Olympics on that run,’ Moltzan said after the race, ‘and I’m excited to see my family and excited to go home.’
Moltzan has traditionally been stronger in giant slalom, but she’s made herself a contender in both events this season. She has five top-five slalom finishes this season, including a silver in the night race in Flachau, Austria, where she shared the podium with Shiffrin.
Shiffrin told the NBC broadcast between runs No. 1 and 2 that ‘There were a couple moments when I thought I could easily be off this course right now.’
Thirty-one skiers recorded DNFs (did not finish) or DSQs (disqualifications) in the first run, including Moltzan’s teammate Nina O’Brien. Eleven more skiers joined them on the second, including German Lena Duerr and Swede Cornelia Öehlund, who each had the second and third fastest first runs among all skiers.
‘There’s a lot more turns in the second run,’ Moltzan said. ‘Their offset between the gates is about one meter more, so you’re turning a lot more, the speeds are a lot slower. You can control it, and I preferably liked to turn, so it was better for me, so I’m happy.’
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