Shiffrin Dominates Giant Slalom With World Cup Win #34
COURCHEVEL, France (Dec. 19, 2017) – Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.) built upon her overall World Cup lead with her first FIS Ski World Cup giant slalom victory of the season in Courchevel, France Tuesday.
“It was a bit scrappy at some points, but that was the tactic today,” Shiffrin said. “I tried to be really aggressive, and almost went off the course a couple times. It was a really straight second run, so I was like ‘OK, you gotta take advantage of that!’ I’m really excited that I fought for it!”
Tessa Worley of France was second, followed by Manuela Moelgg of Italy in third.
The defending overall World Cup Champion has totaled 621 points so far this season following Tuesday’s win. Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg, who won the first two giant slalom races of the season, fell further behind in second following a disappointing 14th-place finish Tuesday. Liechtenstein’s Tina Weirather is third overall after sitting out Tuesday’s race with a small bone fracture in her left hand. She hopes to return to the World Cup circuit Dec. 28-29 in Lienz, Austria.
Shiffrin also moved into the overall giant slalom World Cup lead Tuesday with 225 points. Rebensburg is second with 218 points. She also leads the overall downhill and slalom World Cup standings, but most importantly, she is just having fun skiing.
“Right now, I’m really enjoying skiing every discipline,” Shiffrin said. “Normally, if I ski slalom, I want to ski GS, if I ski GS I want to ski downhill or super-G. So right now I’m really enjoying it when I’m doing it, and that’s a fun place to be.”
With her victory Tuesday, Shiffrin moved into second among Americans with 34 World Cup victories. Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.), who won Saturday’s super-G, leads with 78 World Cup wins. Bode Miller is third with 33 Word Cup wins among Americans.
Up next, the women compete in parallel slalom under the lights in Courchevel Wednesday evening.
RESULTS
Women’s giant slalom
HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
*schedules subject to change
Dec. 20
12:00 p.m. – Women’s parallel slalom; Courchevel – Olympic Channel TV
Dec. 22
11:45 a.m. – Men’s slalom, run 1; Madonna di Campiglio – olympicchannel.com
2:30 p.m. – Men’s slalom, run 2; Madonna di Campiglio – Olympic Channel TV
Mikaela Shiffrin won her first giant slalom of the FIS Ski World Cup season Tuesday in Courchevel, France. (Getty Images/Agence Zoom - Christophe Pallot)
Mikaela Shiffrin built a huge first run lead en route to her first FIS Ski World Cup giant slalom win of the season Courchevel, France. (Getty Images/Agence - Alain Grosclaude)
Tessa Worley of France (left) was second, Mikaela Shiffrin won and Manuela Moelgg was third in Tuesday’s FIS Ski World Cup giant slalom in Courchevel, France. (Getty Images/Agence Zoom - Michel Cottin)
Mikaela Shiffrin reacts after winning her first FIS Ski World Cup giant slalom of the season Tuesday in Courchevel, France. (Getty Images/Agence Zoom - Michel Cottin)
Mikaela Shiffrin
Two-time Olympic gold medalist and seven-time world champion Mikaela Shiffrin began turning heads almost instantly when she finished top 15 in her first two NorAm Cup races.