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≡ SHIFFRIN vs. AICHER ≡
American skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin did what she needed to do and won the final FIS World Cup Slalom at Hafjell (NOR) on Tuesday, but it was not enough to win the seasonal title.
The race with German Emma Aicher will come down to the final race of the season, on Thursday, also at Hafjell, in the Giant Slalom finale.
But Shiffrin was superb on Tuesday, taking the first run in 1:07.79, ahead of two-time Olympic Slalom medalist Wendy Holdener (SUI: 1:08.89), with Aicher in fourth place.
Shiffrin had the sixth-fastest second run and won easily in 2:07.61, with Holdener staying in second (2:08.93) and Aicher moving up to third in 2:08.97. American Paula Moltzan, third after the first run, fell back to fifth overall in 2:09.44. Said Shiffrin:
“This season has been so exciting, quite like a whirlwind with all the wonderful races that we had, and with the Olympics and everything.
“It’s been really pushing at a high level for a long time, and I am grateful for it. I’m grateful to have the chance to be getting into the start each time, and to push my own level.”
She sets records every time she races and Tuesday was no exception. She won her record 110th World Cup race and record 73rd Slalom and won the Slalom discipline seasonal title for a record ninth time. She won nine of the 10 Slaloms held this season, the most ever for a single event by a women’s skier.
The race left Shiffrin in first place in the overall season standings with 1,386 points, to 1,301 for Aicher, meaning Aicher would have to win Thursday’s Giant Slalom and Shiffrin would have to be 16th or lower.
Looking a little more closely at the last five Giant Slalom World Cup performances for each (“DNQ” means did not qualify for a second run):
● Shiffrin: 6th-5th-4th-3rd-5th
● Season: 398 points ~ 4th overall
● Aicher: DNQ-19th-DNQ-10th-4th
● Season: 113 points ~ 17th overall
Shiffrin, however, is taking nothing for granted:
“I’m actually not confident at all, you saw today anything can happen. I never skied on this slope in GS, it looks not super easy.
“So, I have to have good tactics, a good mentality, to try to have some energy in the muscles, and then to give full gas, like big energy. But nothing is secure, we just breathe and see.”
¶
The men’s Giant Slalom season ended on Tuesday, with Brazilian Olympic winner Lucas Pinheiro Braathen winning his second World Cup G-S of the season and taking the seasonal title with 547 points to 495 for Swiss overall winner Marco Odermatt and teammate Loic Meillard (486).
The Brazilian led after the first run in 1:11.24, then maintained a strong second run – eighth best in the field – to win in 2:20.65. Meillard, third after the first run, finished in 2:21.23 for second and Norway’s Atle McGrath moved up from fifth to third in 2:21.52.
River Radamus was the top American, in 14th place (2:23.24).
It was the first-ever Crystal Globe for Brazil; Pinheiro Braathen won the Slalom seasonal title in 2023 for Norway and has a shot to do so again on Thursday in the Slalom finale.
¶
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