Worley clinches giant-slalom title
ASPEN, Colo. — Tessa Worley waved her ski pole at the finish and pumped her fist. Rarely has not winning felt this rewarding.
The Frenchwoman clinched the season-long giant-slalom title Sunday with a conservative run on a day Federica Brignone led an Italian sweep at the World Cup Finals.
“I just went for it, kept it simple,” explained Worley, who finished fifth to edge American Mikaela Shiffrin by 85 points for her first crystal globe. “I’m really, really happy with the season. Now, I have it.”
Brignone glided through the course in a combined time of 1 minute, 58.01 seconds to beat teammate Sofia Goggia by 1.44 seconds. Marta Bassino took third.
It’s the first time the Italian women have swept the podium since 1996.
Worley entered the final race of the women’s World Cup season with an 80-point lead over Shiffrin in the GS standings. Worley was cautious in the first run and turned it up just a notch in her final pass to sew up the discipline crown. Shiffrin struggled to uncover speed and wound up sixth.
“I’m not very satisfied,” Shiffrin said. “I felt like I had some really good turns but didn’t take enough aggression when I really needed it. It’s a bit of a bummer, but it’s good motivation for next year.”
Shiffrin and Worley each won three giantslalom races this season. Shiffrin, 22, already clinched the slalom and overall titles.
On Sunday, in front of an adoring Aspen crowd, Shiffrin was presented the crystal globe for the overall. She broke out in tears.
“It’s hard to describe what I was thinking up there. I had no thoughts,” said Shiffrin, who took the overall by 318 points over Ilka Stuhec of Slovenia. “That’s when the emotion comes, when I’m not thinking. I don’t always have that emotion.
“It’s sort of sad it’s over. ... There are so many emotional roller-coasters, that you just want to take a nap for three days straight.”
On the men’s side in Aspen, Sweden’s Andre Myhrer capped off a second straight season with a slalom win at the World Cup Finals, beating season champion Marcel Hirscher of Austria.
Hirscher, 28, had earlier clinched that title as well as his sixth straight overall title and the giant slalom title.