One of the reasons EagleVail’s Mikaela Shiffrin seemed to have a good chance to contend for the World Cup overall title this season was because she was adding some super-G and downhill races to her schedule. Given her well-established prowess in slalom and giant slalom, went the thinking, if she could get a few points from speed races — especially in super-G — it figured to put her in the hunt.
On Sunday that played out in dramatic fashion when her closest pursuer in the overall chase, Lara Gut of Switzerland, crashed in a super-G at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Shiffrin finished a career-best fourth, only .03 of a second off the podium.
Shiffrin’s lead over Gut in the overall chase was down to 30 points before the race. Gut figured to take the lead because she is the tour’s best super-G racer and Shiffrin is new to the event. Instead, Shiffrin added 50 points to her lead.
“I let the skis run and I could really feel it every turn,” Shiffrin said. “I felt like I was charging and super smooth. The surface was amazing. You could feel it when you were clean and feel it when you were dirty. Every turn I felt wasn’t totally clean, I was like, ‘No you have to make up time on this next turn.’ I really wanted the speed to come to me, instead of backing away from it. That was really fun — itap a good feeling.”
Shiffrin watched Gut’s run on a TV screen at the starting area.
“She was smoking, up until she went out,” Shiffrin said. The mistake she made, her hand was just a little bit inside. That can happen a lot of times when you’re attacking. She was in the lead. I went in today really planning to charge. My main goal was to try and see how comfortable I could let myself really go direct and take the speed and not be afraid of it and stand on my outside ski. I felt like I did that that run. My plan didn’t change because Lara went out, but I did feel like a lot of girls were giving (the course) too much respect. I didn’t know if I would be the one to change that, but it felt like a pretty aggressive run.”
Vail’s Lindsey Vonn, in her fifth race since coming back from a serious preseason arm injury, finished 12th.
World Cup overall standings
(after 25 of 37 races)
Mikaela Shiffrin, EagleVail, 1,103 points
Lara Gut, Switzerland, 1,023
Sofia Goggia, Italy, 789
Ilka Stuhec, Slovenia, 785
Tessa Worley, France, 712
