Mikaela Shiffrin knew she had to be ready from the start to win the 2019 Alpine World Championships Slalom.
After her bronze medal on Thursday in the Giant Slalom, she said, “Everybody’s charging and Petra [Vlhova]’s been a big competitor of mine all season long, so I know that it’s full gas. In Slalom, I tend to feel more confident in all variable types of conditions than I currently do in GS, but it’s still a matter of who pushes as hard as they can and who does the best skiing and the fewest mistakes, and so we’ll see what happens. So I am looking forward to it.”
Unfortunately, Shiffrin was suffering from a chest cold and her 57.23 first run left her third, similar to her fourth-place standing after the first run of the Giant Slalom.
“Halfway down the (second) run, I ran out of oxygen,” she said. “It was tough today.”
Shiffrin reportedly had stomach spasms just before her second run and her mother, Eileen Shiffrin, told her: “You don’t have to do this!”
But Shiffrin said afterwards that she “just figured I had to be tough” for about 60 seconds and got into the starting gate. “I knew I had to fight really hard the second run because Anna [Swenn Larsson] and Wendy [Holdener] are too strong, and the girls who were behind me were also really close,” Shiffrin said.
Shiffrin ripped through the second run and her 59.82 time was the only one under a minute during the entire second run. She jumped into the lead and she wasn’t challenged by either Swenn Larsson (SWE) or first-run leader Holdener (SUI). Swenn Larsson skied well, but ended up second; Holdener missed at gate at the top of the course and finished 17th. That allowed Slovakia’s Vlhova to come from fifth to third with her very good second.
It was the fourth consecutive Slalom gold for Shiffrin at the World Championships, a testament to her grit and determination. At 23, she still has perhaps five more Worlds in front of her – if she chooses – and is on the precipice of setting records no one may touch for a long, long time.
No one else has ever won four straight Worlds golds in a single event. Shiffrin broke away from multiple skiers who have won three in a row, including American Ted Ligety in the men’s Giant Slalom in 2011-13-15. Shiffrin now stands alone.
The Alpine Worlds will finish with the men’s Slalom tomorrow. Summaries:
FIS Alpine World Championships
Are (SWE) ~ 5-17 February 2019
(Full results here)
Men
Downhill: 1. Kjetil Jansrud (NOR), 1:19.98; 2. Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR), 1:20.00; 3. Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT), 1:20.31; 4. Beat Feuz (SUI), 1:20.42; 5. Matthias Mayer (AUT), 1:20.63; 6. Dominik Paris (ITA), 1:20.72; 7. Benjamin Thomsen (CAN), 1:20.73; 8. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR), 1:20.80. Also: 9 (tie). Bryce Bennett (USA), 1:20.81; … 12. Ryan Cochran-Siegle (USA), 1:21.00; … 23. Steven Nyman (USA), 1:21.55; … 26. Travis Ganong (USA), 1:21.63.
Super-G: 1. Paris (ITA), 1:24.20; 2. tie, Johan Clarey (FRA) and Kriechmayr (AUT), 1:24.29; 4. Christof Innerhofer (ITA), 1:24.55; 5. Adrien Theaux (FRA), 1:24.57; 6. Josef Ferstl (GER), 1:24.59; 7. Brice Roger (FRA), 1:24.61; 8. tie, Mattia Casse (ITA), Nyman (USA) and Adrian Sejersted (NOR), 1:24.70. Also in the top 25: 11. Cochran-Siegle (USA), 1:24.73; … 23. Bennett (USA), 1:25.82.
Giant Slalom: 1. Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR), 2:20.24; 2. Marcel Hirscher (AUT), 2:20.44; 3. Alexis Pinturault (FRA), 2:20.66; 4. Loic Meillard (FRA), 2:21.16; 5. tie, Marco Schwarz (SUI) and Zan Kranjec (SLO), 2:21.28; 7. Leif Kristian Nestvold-Haugen (NOR), 2:21.32; 8. Alexander Schmid (GER), 2:21.43. Also: 11. Ted Ligety (USA), 2:21.78; 12. Tommy Ford (USA), 2:21.80; … 21. Cochran-Siegle (USA), 2:23.88.
Combined: 1. Pinturault (FRA), 1:47.71 (24th in Downhill + 2nd in Slalom); 2. Stefan Hadalin (SLO), 1:47.95 (30+1); 3. Schwarz (AUT), 1:48.17 (21+4); 4. Riccardo Tonetti (ITA), 1:48.38 (16+6); 5. Linus Strasser (GER), 1:48.51 (29+3); 6. Victor Muffat-Jeandet (FRA), 1:48.52 (23+5); 7. Mauro Caviezel (SUI), 1:48.57 (8+8); 8. Luca Aerni (SUI), 1:48.73 (20+7). Also: 11. Bennett (USA), 1:49.59 (18+13);’ … 18. Cochran-Siegle (USA), 1:49.84 (2+36).
Women
Downhill: 1. Ilka Stuhec (SLO), 1:01.74; 2. Corinne Suter (SUI), 1:01.97; 3. Lindsey Vonn (USA), 1:02.23; 4. Stephanie Venier (AUT), 1:02.27; 5. Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR), 1:02.33; 6. Nicol Delago (ITA), 1:02.36; 7. Ramona Siebenhofer (AUT), 1:02.38; 8. Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI), 1:02.52. Also: 22. Alice Merryweather (USA), 1:03.26.
Super-G: 1. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA), 1:04.89; 2. Sofia Goggia (ITA), 1:04.91; 3. Corinne Suter (SUI), 1:04.94; 4. Viktor Rebensburg (GER), 1:04.96; 5. Nadia Fanchini (ITA), 1:05.03; 6. Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR), 1:05.05; 7. Francesca Marsaglia (ITA), 1:05.13; 8. Stuhec (SLO), 1:05.15; 9. Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI), 1:05.37; 10. Federica Brignone (ITA), 1:05.43. Also in the top 25: 22. Merryweather (USA), 1:07.22.
Giant Slalom: 1. Petra Vlhova (SVK), 2:01.97; 2. Rebensburg (GER), 2:02.11; 3. Shiffrin (USA), 2:02.35; 4. Mowinckel (NOR), 2:02.47; 5. Brignone (ITA), 2:02.84; 6. Tessa Worley (FRA), 2:03.06; 7. Sara Hector (SWE), 2:03.91; 8. Clara Direz (FRA), 2:04.18.
Slalom: 1. Shiffrin (USA), 1:57.05; 2. Anna Swenn Larson (SWE), 1:57.63; 3. Vlhova (SVK), 1:58.08; 4. Katharina Liensberger (AUT), 1:58.48; 5. Frida Hansdotter (SWE), 1:59.44; 6. Laurence St-Germain (CAN), 1:59.65; 7. Katharina Huber (AUT), 1:59.75; 8. Katharina Truppe (AUT), 1:59.98. Also: 18. Paula Moltzan (USA), 2:02.51.
Combined: 1. Wendy Holdener (SUI), 2:02:13 (5th in Downhill + 3rd in Slalom); 2. Vlhova (SVK), 2:02.16 (8+2); 3. Mowinckel (NOR), 2:02.58 (3+6); 4. Ramona Siebenhofer (AUT), 2:02.62 (1+8); 5. Roni Remme (CAN), 2:02.26 (28+1); 6. Brignone (ITA), 2:03.52 (6+10); 7. Kasja Vickhoff Lie (NOR), 2:03.64 (15+5); 8. Franziska Gritsch (AUT), 2:03.82 (29+4). Also: 18. Merryweather (USA), 2:06.63 (10+21).
Mixed
Team Event/ Big Final: 1. Switzerland (Holdener, Matt, Truppe, Zenhaeusern); 2. Austria (Linsberger, Yule, Danioth, Schwarz). Small Final: 3. Italy (Curtoni, Della Mea, Maurberger, Vinatzer); 4. Germany (Duerr, Geiger, Strasser, Tremmel). Semis: Austria d. Italy, 2-2 (49.23-49.52); Switzerland d. Germany, 2-2 (48.75-48.95). Third: Italy d. Germany, 3-1. Final: Switzerland d. Austria, 2-2 (48.13-48.90).
