Aicher got off to a good start: with his feet on the ground

Emma Aicher had already taken off her starting number and slipped into the warm anorak. It was cold up there on the glacier above Sölden. It was not to be expected that she would have to take off the anorak again and present herself again in racing dress, as the International Ski Federation FIS stipulates for the award ceremonies at the Alpine Ski World Cup. But then before the last runner in this first giant slalom of the winter, only two women were faster than her.

And at the start was Mikaela Shiffrin from the USA, the best. They had announced that they would concentrate more on giant slalom and super-G this season, and that had to sound like a threat to the competition. Shiffrin was recently only the slalom series winner, but if she were to focus a little more on the giant slalom, she would be at the top in this discipline again. She was the fastest in the first round. What else was supposed to happen?

But then something happened. Shiffrin didn't cope well with this second run, slipping to seventh place. At the finish line, Kira Weidle-Winkelmann threw her arms around her teammate's neck. Aicher cheered briefly, then she was in a hurry. Paula Moltzan from the USA, the fastest, and Lara Colturi, who was starting for Albania, celebrated in the finish area and waited for the young German to take the winning photo. So get out of the anorak, put on the sleeves of your racing suit and put on your starting number.

"I didn't expect that at all. I've always had a hard time with the slope here," she said.

With Emma Aicher you have to expect everything. The giant slalom was her weakest discipline so far; until Saturday she had never been on the winner's podium. Only last March in Are, where the German-Swede went to school for many years and the slope is like her living room, did she come close in fourth place. And now she achieved her first top-three result on the slope that is considered the most difficult in the World Cup.

For Wolfgang Maier, sports director at the German Ski Association, this performance is “no coincidence”; she has “significantly improved” in the giant slalom. It was probably only a matter of time before she would be one of the best in the giant slalom.

Maier doesn't like the fact that after this start the 22-year-old is now seen as Shiffrin's big competitor in the fight for the overall World Cup, perhaps even as the favorite. "The result was of course amazing. It was a good performance, but please always keep your feet on the ground."

Especially since he thinks you have to classify the result. Austria's Julia Scheib, the best giant slalom runner of last winter, was eliminated in the first round, with an outstanding interim best time. And on the gray, cloudy Saturday, Aicher caught one of the few moments during her second run when it brightened up a bit. “I was a bit lucky with the light,” she admitted herself.

Aicher himself doesn't like to talk about the overall World Cup. Then it becomes even more monosyllabic than it already is without it. “I want to focus on mine and what I can do better,” she always said. But of course, if you compete in all four disciplines, she admits, the big crystal ball is of course a goal for you. Especially for an athlete who can get on the podium anywhere.