Lindsey Vonn won a World Cup giant slalom Saturday in Are, Sweden, for her fourth consecutive victory, while American teammate Mikaela Shiffrin missed the race after a warm-up crash.
While she specializes in the speed events of downhill and super-G, Vonn has now won four giant slaloms in her career — with two of them coming in Are.
Charging down a shortened course due to strong winds in the opening run, Vonn held on to her lead in the second run amid snowfall and clocked a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 4.70 seconds.
“I love racing here in Are under the lights,” Vonn said, having explained earlier that it reminds her of training after school while growing up in Minnesota.
Eva-Maria Brem of Austria finished second, 0.07 seconds behind, and discipline leader Federica Brignone of Italy was third, 0.35 back.
Vonn swept three speed races in Lake Louise, Alberta, last weekend.
“I feel really good on my skis and balanced. I have a lot of confidence, especially after Lake Louise,” she said. “I said last week if I finish Lake Louise strong that always means good things for the rest of the season.”
Shiffrin, the 20-year-old Olympic slalom champion, was taken to a local hospital for exams on her right knee.
Vonn increased her lead over Shiffrin in the overall standings to 104 points. Lara Gut of Switzerland, who finished 13th, is third overall, 122 points back.
Vonn took gold in downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and has four overall World Cup titles — with the last coming in 2011-12.
Results 15CC
