GS masterclass from Shiffrin delivers World Cup win No.92
Dec 28, 2023·Alpine Skiing
Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) produced one of the all-time great first runs to dominate the Giant Slalom in Lienz, Austria on Thursday. While all her rivals, including the red-hot Federica Brignone (ITA), struggled down an icy, bumpy, lightening quick first set, Shiffrin appeared to be skiing on a different planet. Having built a huge advantage, the American record-breaker was then able to “manage” her second run en-route to her 22nd Audi FIS World Cup GS victory.
A charging Brignone grabbed second to sign off a great year in style, while Sara Hector (SWE) signalled a welcome return to somewhere near her best with third place, a first podium finish of the season for the Olympic GS champion.
But in truth, no one got close to Shiffrin and it was Brignone herself who illustrated the gap between the American star and the best of the rest.
“In the first run I felt awful, it was so slippery, I didn’t feel my skis, I didn’t feel my edges and it was impossible to push and to make any turns,” Brignone said.
In contrast, Shiffrin “felt amazing on the first run” and it showed. Flawless to the naked eye, the most successful World Cup skier of all-time appeared to fly down the track to finish 0.63 seconds ahead of Hector at the halfway point. With Brignone a whole second further back.
Shiffrin’s failure to land a win in her opening four GS races of the season had got some people talking, but not the reigning discipline champion herself. Happy with her form and with a strong block of recent GS training behind her – no Christmas break for the Shiffrin team – the already run-away leader of the overall Crystal Globe standings was then able to ski within herself to add a GS victory to her slalom and downhill triumphs.
“My big, big goal right now it to close the gap on the GS standings, so I was like ‘now I want to win it but I really don’t want to mess it up, that would be disappointing’. I really wanted to push on the second run, a couple of small errors, nothing big, but I am happy with the skiing anyway. I skied a very well managed run,” said Shiffrin who finished in a combined time of 2:05.98.
She then pointed out that the first of her seven GS victories last season came on the very same day a year ago.
“When you miss a win for so long in the season, it’s easy to be like ‘I am doing things wrong, I am doing things wrong’ but tactically the season is a marathon not a sprint and I have to every single day be relentless with my training and bring the right mentality to race day and step-by-step until it’s at the top,” she explained.
A skiing fan at her core, Shiffrin then revealed that she had enjoyed watching Brignone’s “stunning” second run and that had there been “three more gates” the Italian probably would have caught her.
“After the first run I never thought it was possible to be on the podium. Being second, it’s just amazing,” said Brignone, who was typically light on her skis, barely making a mark on the Austrian piste to record the fastest time of the afternoon.
“We changed a little bit, something with my service guy in the second run (and) the snow changed a little bit (but) my attitude was different. This was the big thing,” Brignone added.
She takes over from Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI) – sixth after a surprisingly low-key second run – at the top of the GS season standings.
Meanwhile, Hector was relieved to finally grab her first podium of the season, having focused on “pushing” and her “outside ski”.
“So many girls are skiing so good so to make a podium it means a lot,” the Swede said. “I am so happy to make it to the podium today. I think I skied half of both of the runs really well.”
Just behind her Valerie Grenier (CAN) almost ended 2023 like she started it. The winner of the year’s opening World Cup GS in Kranjska Gora (SLO) was a mere 0.18 seconds off another podium.
Much to the delight of the home crowd, Julia Scheib (AUT) was even quicker than Grenier second time down. Roared on by hordes of fans who had seen top hope Katharina Liensberger (AUT) fail to qualify for the afternoon, the 25-year-old Scheib produced the run of her lifetime to jump from 14th to fifth – her best ever World Cup result.
The Lienz masses will be hoping for even better from their skiers when the women’s slalom World Cup race gets underway on Friday 29 December, with the first run at 10:00 local time.
