History
57th Golden Fox 2021
(15. 01. - 17. 01. 2021)
On repeat: Kranjska Gora, Meta Hrovat, and Marta Bassino
Italian Marta Bassino repeats her Saturday’s giant slalom victory on Sunday and Slovenian repeats her last year’s third-place at her home in Kranjska Gora - Organisational win over covid
Meta Hrovat repeated her previous season at the Golden Fox race! She performed well on the first slope and skied even better on the second racecourse. Despite a minor mistake in the middle section, she continued her run perfectly and made it to the podium. Italian Marta Bassino skied as Podkoren slopes were not icy at all and won both world cup giant slalom races. Slovenian skiers performed great as a team. They joined forces and proved they are the best as a team on the most demanding, icy, and hard racecourse of the entire world cup season.
Among the winners of both giant slalom races in Podkoren is also the Golden Fox itself. In total, the race was moved to alternative venues 11 times throughout its' history, this was the ninth time it was hosted in Kranjska Gora. However, Mitja Dragšič's racecourse preparation team proved this could the future of women's alpine skiing. Eight skiers with very high bibs (over 46) made it to the final run! The Golden Fox proved a race is not over after the first group of top-raking skiers perform. The Golden Fox proved women's skiing becomes most interesting on the hardest and challenging slopes!
Marta Bassino was a double winner at 57. Golden Fox Combination race, Tessa Worley from France won the silver and bronze went to Swiss Michelle Gisin. Meta Hrovat placed fifth after both giant slalom races, right after Slovak Petra Vlhova.
Srečko Vilar: Organisational and racing success
Srečko Vilar, Secretary General, 57. Golden Fox Organisational Committee:
"We made it! We made it from an organizational and racing perspective. Meta Hrovat's third place made it all worth it - from venue change, adapting to epidemic circumstances, to racecourse preparation. We opened all hotels in Kranjska Gora, organized a drive-in covid center, tested around 500 people (all were negative), managed to prepare a great racecourse after having to harden an enormous amount of snow. Thank you, everyone, who worked around the clock in freezing cold, thank you RTC Kranjska Gora and I would like to thank our friends from OC Vitranc. It was not easy, but we made it! Many team managers congratulated us for organizing this beautiful race, very positive feedback came from FIS representatives as well. We are sorry for having to move the race from Maribor again, but on the other hand, we organized an amazing competition here in Kranjska Gora, where Slovenian skiers reached their best results of the season."
Moving to Gorenjska bubbles
Right after New Year, warm weather and heavy rain took away the majority of snow. After considering the weather forecast at the time, the snow control was postponed for 24 hours. Mitja Dragšič, Chief of Race commented on the venue change: "The finish area was covered in white, but it was not enough. Snow cannons were off overnight in lower parts of the slops as the conditions were unfavorable". Moving the race to Kranjska Gora was accompanied by cold, winter weather. Suddenly the temperatures were low enough for all snow cannons, including those in lower parts of Pohorje. But it was only five days left till the race. The cold weather arrived four days too late. FIS, which are dealing each year with cancellations, rescheduling, and venue changes, could not take any (more)risks, especially at the venue with the finish line at the lowest altitude in the world. Organizers from Austria and Switzerland were already lined up, waiting to take over the Slovenian race. This is the major reason why the Maribor team has a reserve venue in Kranjska Gora.
Mitja Dragšič, Chief of Race, and his team of 65 people used firefighting hoses to soak the 57. Golden Fox giant slalom racecourse at Podkoren slopes. The racecourse became as hard as concrete, mainly due to extremely low temperatures. Overnight they dropped to around - 20C and during the day it "warmed up" to - 15C. Mitja Dragšič: "In Maribor, the weather was a problem, but here it is helpful."
The racecourse: bib 1 or 64? It did not matter.
Ilka Štuhec with bib 64, performed after more than 2 years of giant slalom break in respect to Golden Fox and its organizers. As the last racer on the starting list, she did not make it into the finals. On both racing days, a record-breaking number of racers with high bibs took advantage of the excellently prepared racecourse.
Mitja Dragšič: ”The terrain was very selective and hard for women's skiing. But are in the middle of the season, right before the world championships. They do not want to deal with childishly easy races, that would not make sense. This is the reason why this is the race for the top performers. The surface is hard, compact, but with enough grip for smooth skiing."
Ilka Štuhec (in Večer): ”I think I fought well. The racecourse was surprisingly in a good shape, it was less rough than I thought it would be. You cannot go down such an extreme slope without being highly prepared. It would end at the start. This was a fight, the biting, fight your way down the hill, somehow. After such a run, I should better see a dentist, to check my dental fillings”.
Drive-in covid tests at - 16C
Over 500 covid tests were done for accredited people before and during the Golden Fox event. All results were negative and this is the biggest victory. Two people from the American team arrived positive and isolated themselves in Kranjska Gora for a 10-day long, post-event quarantine. Testing of all accredited people was organized at an icy parking lot, next to a police station in Kranjska Gora. In 4 days and at freezing -16C, over 500 people were tested. Meanwhile, in those mobile containers, the computers were shut down, the power supply was off and the power generator stopped working due to severe cold..but in the end, the Golden Fox won, not the virus.
