Mikaela Shiffrin, of Eagle, Colo., celebrates her second World Cup slalom victory in as many days on Sunday in Aspen.
Advertisement
Mikaela Shiffrin’s stunning victory margin of 3.07 seconds in Saturday’s World Cup slalom here was the largest margin in a women’s slalom in the history of the World Cup.
Mikaela Shiffrin had a big lead and was just a few turns from winning a World Cup race at home for the first time. Her winning margin of 2.65 seconds over Swede Frida Hansdotter in second and the Czech Republic’s Sarka Strachova in third proved that yesterday’s record-breaking 3.07 second victory was no fluke. “She has the support from the public and, yeah, she’s in another class”, said Strachova, who’s won slalom races on this course in 2008 and ’09.
Vonn said she felt good and confident even though much of her focus has been on the speed events in pre-season work.
Lara Gut of Switzerland has won a World Cup giant slalom after first-run leader Mikaela Shiffrin crashed while well ahead and the finish line in sight. It was a mark that had stood since 1968. “I know very well it might never happen again, because sometimes the stars have to align”.
The reigning Olympic and world champion flew through the course and finished in a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 39.81 seconds.
Next up for Shiffrin is her voyage into speed.
Vonn had previously said she wouldn’t ski the slalom races on Saturday and Sunday.
Vonn said the Aspen course “wasn’t that bumpy” so she was trying to figure out what spurred the crash.
When it comes to watching ski racing in Aspen, fans have waited a long time to see an American win in the Colorado mountain town.
“Nobody likes to get beat by three seconds”, Shiffrin said.
“I managed to channel my anger”, Shiffrin said after the first run. It took me a couple of gates to come into it. Once I hit the flat, I got in a good rhythm.
Advertisement
No surprise Shiffrin races a lot like Schild. Hansdotter plans to watch video of Shiffrin’s races, just to see if she can spot something she can use. No American has finished in the top three during a World Cup race at Aspen since Julia Mancuso was third in 2011. She will head to Lake Louise, Alberta, next weekend and compete in a super-G. “What’s exciting is that I’m not satisfied with the skiing that happened today”. That’s Lindsey Vonn’s territory.
