After winning this season's opening World Cup Giant Slalom in Sölden, Mikaela Shiffrin won today the first of two Giant Slaloms to be held in Courchevel. Shiffrin also won the slalom event in Killington on 28 November, bringing her total tally up to 72 wins, ranking her in third place all-time behind Ingemar Stenmark (86) and Lindsey Vonn (82).
No skier has claimed as many World Cup victories in Courchevel as Shiffrin (6). Shiffrin won four of the eight women's World Cup Giant Slalom events held in Courchevel.
Shiffrin is now the third woman in the last nine World Cup seasons to win the opening two Giant Slalom events, after Viktoria Rebensburg (2017-2018) and Marta Bassino (2020-2021).
It's her 13th Giant Slalom victory. She achieved four of them in Courchevel.
Shiffrin also took the lead in the overall World Cup. Sofia Goggia who was tenth after the first run made a mistake in the second one and did not finish, allowing the American to open up a 35-point lead at the top of the standings.
“After the last weeks, pushing the schedule hard, it’s been a lot just to get here and we’re just starting this next tech block, so I’m not full tank right now. But I felt like I really skied some of my best skiing and some of my toughest skiing today. That’s just really incredible”, said Shiffrin.
“It's amazing, it was really difficult. The win gives me a lot of boost. I had to fight and be aggressive and that worked. Now I am tired. I have to recover, tomorrow the next race is waiting”, she added.
Swede Sara Hector finished in second place 0.86 seconds behind Shiffrin. She was third in the first run and set the fastest time on the second one.
She celebrated her first podium place since last year - in the same place - with two strong runs on a difficult and exigent slope. She was on the podium in the World Cup four times, two of them back in 2014.
Michelle Gisin rounded out today's podium in third place +1.08 behind the American. It's her 15th individual podium in the World Cup, her third on in Giant Slalom.
Three big names were absent today in Courchevel after testing positive in COVID-19: Lara Gut-Behrami, Alice Robinson, and Katharina Liensberger.
Comments