The curse of the USA skiers in Aspen continued on Friday as both Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn both failed to finish the second giant slalom of the World Cup season in Colorado. “But that’s part of the game. For me, it’s better to win one day and crash the other day than be in 25th twice”.
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Gut had been 0.96secs down on Shiffrin in third after the first round with a time of one minute flat, but her second effort of 1:02.51secs was enough to see her leapfrog Federica Brignone (2:02.85secs).
No American woman has won a World Cup race in Aspen since Tamara McKinney in 1981.
The all-time leader in world cup race wins, Vonn is scheduled to race in Friday’s giant slalom.
It was a rough day for the US elsewhere. Vonn went for a slow slide into the nets, but she was not injured. “That was a really good thing for me to do in a GS course”.
The women will race slalom again tomorrow, closing out the weekend before the tour heads to Lake Louise, Alberta, for the annual speed series.
“Tough course”, Gut said. “It doesn’t happen often-the stars have to line up”, Shiffrin said.
Lila Lapanja, who lives in Truckee, California, made a mistake early in the course and caught a gate with her ski, going off course in the first run.
Vonn, returning from a broken left ankle, was tentative out of the start gate.
This has already been an injury-filled season for her. She also needed stitches after being bitten on her right thumb while trying to break up a fight between her dogs over a Frisbee. “It’s been kind of a podium drought for us, so I’m really glad that for the whole team we got that out of the way, finally”. “I am going to move from today and focus on that”. “I think I have an advantage”. But the 31-year-old was beginning to find her rhythm when her ski popped off. She was not hurt, calling the wipeout “super annoying”.
Brem was the defending champion in the event, but was in eighth after the first run.
Gut has finished just shy of the podium in past years and was visibly excited to be on the podium this year after coming off a frustrating season last year. “But they have made working hard look cool”.
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“I tried to use that anger to fuel me today”, Shiffrin said.
