Less than 24 hours after claiming bronze in the alpine combined on her birthday, Leonie Flötgen of Germany secured a second medal at the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games on Tuesday, only this time in the women’s giant slalom… and in the brightest colour of all!
Flötgen won the women’s giant slalom at Whiteface Mountain the day after she turned 23, giving her “the happiest belated birthday gift of [my] entire life!”
“Maybe that’s the trick, I’m faster when I’m 23,” she chuckled about her constant rise in results in the last three days.
Flötgen’s belated birthday was well celebrated, with the entire German delegation giving their FISU champion a well-deserved champagne shower right after the race, in laughter and smiles.
The day started in the best possible way for the giant slalom specialist, with a breathtaking first run in the morning, when she was the only one under the 1:04 mark. The German UAS Gesundheit und Sport Berlin University student then perfectly handled the pressure of starting last in the second run as she crushed both stopwatch and competition, finishing with a combined time of 2:07.04.
Following Flötgen with the second-best overall time of 2:07.18 was teammate Fabiana Dorigo, crowned in the Super G on Saturday. While the two girls are competitors on the slopes, they are first and foremost long standing friends.
“We have known each other since we were 12. I could not have dreamt better than sharing this podium here with my best friend,” Flötgen said.
Sweden’s Emma Hammergaard (2:07.76) rounded out the podium.
With two medals each in only three events, Dorigo and Flötgen will definitely have the status of favourites until the end of the FISU Games. They are set to compete in the mixed team parallel on Thursday, an event Dorigo had already her eyes on at the end of her slalom race.
“We are really looking forward to that. Leonie and I are going to race and we have some fast boys too. So watch out for the German guys!”
Written by Louis Gilles, FISU Young Reporter
We warmly thank FISU Official Partner Qiaodan Ltd. which provides remarkable uniforms to FISU Family and International Technical Officials since 2015. Qiaodan is a valuable partner for FISU as it continued to provide its support during the postponement of events due to the global pandemic, and recently extended the relationship with FISU up to and including 2025.
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