(REUTERS) – Germany’s Heidi Zacher came first in a photofinish in Innichen to win the women’s ski cross world cup race on Wednesday (December 21).
The 28-year-old was fastest in the race to the finish line, overtaking Canada’s Georgia Simmerling, who had been leading the race in the final meters.
The photograph of the finish showed Zacher an arm’s length ahead at the finish but Canada’s Marielle Thompson took second place by the length of her fingers, and the unlucky Simmerling finished the race third.
Switzerland’s Fanny Smith was a distant fourth.
After five ski cross races Thompson leads the table with 425 points with Sandra Naeslund of Sweden second with 240 points. The Swede finished 16th on Wednesday.
Heidi Zacher is now fourth with 224 points behind Sweden’s Anna Holmlund who suffered a training crash on Monday (December 19) and has been placed in a medically-induced coma to aid her treatment.
In the men’s race it was Slovenia’s Filip Flisar who took the early lead and held it to the finish.
Behind Flisar France’s Jean Frederic Chapius held second place until he was overtaken by Germany’s Tim Hronek. When Chapius attempted to retake second place on a sharp corner he lost his edge and slid down to fourth place behind Alex Fiva of Switzerland.
Chapius still heads the table after five races with 339 points and Fiva is second with 237. Flisar is now fourth overall.
There are 14 races in the series with race number six in Innichen on Thursday (December 22).