Unstoppable Mikaela Shiffrin wins fourth race in a row
Stylish Hirscher clinches Swiss double
KRANJSKA GORA: Overall World Cup leader Mikaela Shiffrin won her fourth race in a row yesterday, storming to victory in the slalom at Kranjska Gora by a huge 1.64 seconds. It was her seventh win in the last eight races in all disciplines, her form peaking with the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang just one month away, and the 40th World Cup win of her career.
Shiffrin is widely expected to retain the Olympic slalom title she won at the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia, as well as having a shot at gold medals in the giant slalom and Super G. “I was really aggressive, especially the first run,” she told Swiss television, adding that she did not take an interest in passing the 40win milestone.
“It doesn’t mean so much,” she said. “I’m not focusing on that, I’m really happy with my skiing right now and that’s what I’m focusing on.” The 22-year-old produced an astonishing first run as she charged down the course in 51.44 seconds, with Frida Hansdotter of Sweden the secondbest on 52.91.
Even though Shiffrin eased off slightly on the second run, when her time was bettered by two other skiers, nobody else could get near her total time of one minute 43.50. Hansdotter was second and Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener third.
Shiffrin, who won her maiden overall World Cup title last season, tops the overall standings with 1,281 points, an overwhelming lead of 721 points over secondplaced Holdener.
This season she has won four slalom races, two giant slaloms, one parallel slalom, the Oslo city event and a downhill.
Austria’s Marcel Hirscher won a second race of the weekend yesterday, adding a slalom victory to a giant slalom triumph 24 hours earlier for a 52nd career World Cup win with a classy display on the steep, tightly-gated Adelboden slopes.
Hirscher timed 1min 50.94sec with his compatriot Michael Matt, younger brother of the 2014 slalom gold medallist Mario Matt, second at 0.13sec down the soft, ski-rutted run. Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen was narrowly edged into third at
I’m really happy with my skiing right now
0.16sec.
On a relatively warm day in rutted conditions Hirscher took his foot off the gas on the second run of what is considered a tough, steep course, but still had enough to cruise to a seventh win of the season, three in slalom and four in giant slalom.
It is the kind of form that will make him the man to beat out in Pyeongchang for February’s Winter Games, as he seeks a first individual Olympic gold. The win extends the 28-year-old’s overall World Cup tally to 774, ahead of Kristoffersen in second at 660, and 354 to 295 over the same man in the slalom standings.
Hirscher is closing in on Austrian Hermann Maier’s total of 54 World Cup wins, but is still far behind the record of 86, held by Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark. — Agencies