Shiffrin embraces wild side to grab superb 78th World Cup win in Semmering

Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) briefly put down her seemingly relentless pursuit of perfection on skis, as she was forced to hang tough to win a riotous Audi FIS World Cup women’s giant slalom in Semmering.

Renowned for her technically perfect skiing, Shiffrin went “full gas” down Austria’s famous Panorama run to hold off a determined Petra Vlhova (SVK) and a charging Marta Bassino (ITA) as the world’s best delighted the hordes of noisy fans with a Christmas cracker of a race.

Shiffrin had proved a class apart on a tight, twisty first set with the season’s overall standings leader ending the morning a vast 0.72 seconds clear of perennial rival Vlhova. But a far more straight forward and rapid second set of gates brought the rest into play and set the stage for a true classic.

Taking her lead from the likes of the charging New Zealander Alice Robinson and the reigning GS Crystal Globe champion, Tessa Worley (FRA), first Bassino and then Vlhova threw down the gauntlet to Shiffrin.

And the already legendary 27-year-old was well aware of it.

“Today was quite beautiful being the last because you can hear the announcer at the top and she was announcing in English. So, it was not just going in the background in my head, it was really getting into my head.

“I was thinking ‘just ignore it, just ignore it’ but I knew everything that was happening. I knew Marta had the best time and (then) Petra had the best time and I was just like ‘oh my gosh’,” a laughing Shiffrin said after finishing the first of a back-to-back GS double header in a combined time of 2:07.18.

“I was pushing really hard. Sometimes when I start bib 1 I am holding back on my skiing but today I said ‘no, we are not doing that, I am going full gas every time. I don’t care how it feels, every turn I am pushing’.

“The second run a little bit wild sometimes but I felt like the skis were running. I really enjoy racing here. I was being pushed around sometimes but overall my skiing felt good.”

Vlhova, who is yet to win on the World Cup circuit this season, admitted she thought her fiery second run had given the masses of Slovak fans exactly what they wanted.

“Of course if you are there and waiting and you see the timing (of Shiffrin’s second run) is slower and slower you hope for first position,” said Vlhova whose afternoon effort of 1:01.10 was quickest of all, three-hundredths clear of Bassino.

But in the end she, her red, white and blue-decked out army of supporters and indeed Bassino were left ruing Shiffrin’s expert morning display.

“It’s clear it’s not easy to win these races with a big lead after the first run. The other women they push so hard and they were able to come back almost all the way. I had to try and fight for it,” added Shiffrin whose victory pulled her up to 78 career World Cup wins.

Worley and Italy’s Federica Brignone did their chances in Wednesday’s second GS the power of good. A pair of scintillating second runs was enough to propel them into fourth and fifth respectively.

Meanwhile, Robinson served a timely reminder of her outstanding GS skills. Throwing off a long run of indifferent form, the Kiwi, who has three World Cup GS wins to her name, flew down Semmering’s afternoon course with a wildly aggressive display catapulting her up from 16th to ninth.

But it was left to Bassino, the current GS Crystal Globe leader, to sum up the size of the task ahead of the field as they try and stop Shiffrin’s unwavering pursuit of compatriot Lindsey Vonn’s all-time women’s World Cup tally of 82 wins.

“Tomorrow is another chance,” said Bassino. “Every race is different. We start from zero and we try to attack tomorrow. We will see.”