Shiffrin takes 3rd in a giant slalom
EagleVail skier posts her ninth podium in 12 races this season
Mikaela Shiffrin has a large lead in the World Cup overall standings and is leading the slalom standings in what has become a duel with Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova, but she is in the thick of a cluster struggling for supremacy in women’s giant slalom.
Shiffrin finished third Friday in a GS at Lienz, Austria, only 0.08 of a second behind winner Federica Brignone of Italy and 0.04 behind runner-up Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany. It was Shiffrin’s third podium in four GS races this season and her ninth in 12 races across all disciplines. Shiffrin, of EagleVail, won a slalom in Lienz on Thursday.
“I’m really happy with my performance over the two days, but it always stings a little bit when you think ‘third place, eight-hundredths from the lead’ or ‘four-hundredths from second place,’ it’s really close,” Shiffrin told reporters in the finish area. “But it means it’s a good competition with the women. That’s really exciting for us, it’s exciting for the fans and I definitely was attacking on the second run.”
Rebensburg took over first place in the GS standings from Shiffrin, who is only 13 points behind. Tessa Worley of France is third in the
Women’s World Cup standings
Skier
Mikaela Shiffrin, EagleVail Viktoria Rebensburg, Germany Petra Vlhova, Slovakia Tina Weirather, Liechtenstein Tessa Worley, France Points 881 510 385 374 336 GS standings, 48 points behind Shiffrin. Rebensburg picked up 80 points for finishing second while Shiffrin garnered 60, which also trimmed Shiffrin’s lead over Rebensburg in the overall standings, but Shiffrin still has a points lead of 881-510.
The women who specialize in slalom and GS are in the middle of an exhausting part of their season. Including the Lienz races, they will have seven races over 13 days in four countries. They have a “city race” in Oslo on Monday, a slalom in Croatia on Wednesday, a GS and slalom Jan. 6-7 in Slovenia, and a slalom back in Austria on Jan. 9.
“It’s really busy now,” Shiffrin said. “I had two days off before we came into these races and I sort of thought, ‘OK, those are my days off for the next two or three weeks.’ We all saw the schedule this year and we know that it’s going to be busy now. There’s not a lot of time for rest, but I am for sure motivated for these races.”