Overview
- Switzerland's Camille Rast set the pace, 0.09 seconds ahead of Albania's Lara Colturi after the opening leg on Semmering's Panorama slope.
- Home favorite Katharina Liensberger sits third, with Mikaela Shiffrin fourth at 0.54 seconds off the lead after losing time late.
- Rapidly breaking snow and a highly angled set produced deep ruts that penalized most starters beyond the first 10, with the top‑30 inversion set to send the leaders down later on a more marked track.
- Several contenders struggled, including Zrinka Ljutic at +2.13 and Lena Duerr at +3.04, while Wendy Holdener dropped 0.85.
- Italy's Lara Della Mea leads her team in 13th at more than three seconds, and 16-year-old Giada D'Antonio made her World Cup debut with bib 70.