Maria Riesch misses the podium in St. Moritz

The winter sports resort of St. Moritz in Switzerland is considered one of the most beautiful and exclusive ski areas not only in the Alps, but worldwide. Since today, St. Moritz has also been the venue for the women's Alpine Ski World Cup. The ski competitions, which continue on Saturday and Sunday with additional events, opened today, Friday, with the so-called super-combined. This discipline consists of a Super-G and a slalom, so it tests almost every aspect of skiing.

From a German perspective, all hopes in St. Moritz once again rest on Maria Riesch, who is currently the only competitor in the entire A squad, men included, capable of holding her own among the world's best in Alpine skiing. The 24-year-old ski racer from Partenkirchen missed out on a place on the podium in the super-combined in St. Moritz by the narrowest of margins, ultimately finishing in the disappointing fourth place. Faster than Riesch were the winner, Anja Pärson (Sweden), Nicole Hosp (Austria) and Fabienne Suter (Switzerland).

After a rather mediocre Super-G, Riesch was only 26th in St. Moritz, in the middle of the pack. In the final slalom, her acknowledged specialty, Riesch managed to make up a lot of ground, but still crossed the finish line in the valley of St. Moritz 0.1 seconds behind local favorite Suter.