From slippery to wet and sticky last year, the downhill course for the third World Cup race in Maribor is fast and dry as dust. Eleonora Farina provides the first surprise in the women's race. The Italian racer rode aggressively on the sometimes rough course and swept the current leader, European champion Monika Hrastnik (SLO), off her hot seat.

After that, world champion Camille Balanche takes to the track. And although she doesn't particularly like this course, she shows her teeth: "I knew from the qualifying run that I was losing time in the upper section and I wanted to change that in the race run." The Swiss racer did indeed ride very well at the top and was leading at the intermediate time, but this effort took its toll in the hot and humid weather. "I made a mistake and then got a bit out of rhythm, which was followed by a few minor mistakes." These threw Balanche back into second place behind Farina.

Myriam Nicole (FRA) was the second-to-last skier to start the race and she rode cleanly and quickly. So fast that she is fastest on three of the four sections and pushes Farina into second place by over a second at the finish. Now Camille Balanche has to fear for her third place as qualification winner Valentina Höll gets going. However, the Austrian is not running top times, is in third place for a while, but steadily slips back in the second half and ends up in sixth place. Nicole takes her first win of the season ahead of Farina and Balanche, who is not at all sad about missing out on victory: "There were a few mistakes, but I'm over the moon to be on the podium, which I really didn't expect on this course!"

After Myriam Nicole's victory, Balanche is tied on points with the Frenchwoman in second place overall.

Results women elite

Vergier doubles up

In the men's race, Benoit Coulanges (FRA) sets a mark early on that the following twelve colleagues are determined to beat. The 13th colleague, his compatriot Loic Bruni, attacks powerfully and is three tenths of a second faster than Coulanges at the finish. But that was not to be the end of it. After ten minutes on the hot seat, 40-year-old Greg Minnaar takes to the track. And the South African shows that he is not yet too old to hold his own against his much younger opponents. He leads the race by two seconds at one point, then loses some ground again, but sets the fastest time once more!

Minnaar's lead heralds the start of the chase, as Laurie Greeland (GBR) is just a blink of an eye faster. However, the Brit's top time does not last long. Thibault Daprela (FRA), the leader in the World Cup standings, rides aggressively, just starts to make a few small mistakes, but still gets faster and faster and is over a second faster than Greenland. So it will be a French victory - but which winner? Qualification winner Loris Vergier has the opportunity and he seems to be taking his chance. Still just in second place at the first intermediate time, he already leads by seven tenths of a second at the second and continues to extend his lead. Vergier's time was green at the finish, he won 1.7 seconds ahead of Daprela.

Two Swiss athletes are also involved in the final of the top 60. Swiss champion Yannick Bächler already attracted attention in qualifying with 17th place. "I wouldn't have expected such a result," Baechler says. In the main race, he managed another clean run until he made a mistake on the step-down jump out of the forest and narrowly avoided a fall. "I must have had Sunday. But I'm still happy with my result," says the young Swiss rider, who once again achieved a respectable 36th place among some well-known riders.

Having secured the last starting place for the final with 60th place in qualifying, Swiss rider Janis Lehmann opens the main race on Sunday. The 23-year-old was able to improve slightly in his run and finished in 53rd place.

Results men elite

In the juniors, Nicolas Baechler is the only Swiss to ride into the final of the top 25 and finishes in 21st place. The victory goes to Canadian Jackson Goldstone, who would have finished 17th with his time in the elite race.

Results juniors