2023-12-28 14:26:00
Mikaela Shiffrin has won her 92nd victory in the Alpine Ski World Cup. The American won the giant slalom in Lienz on Thursday, her fourth win of the season and the first in this discipline. The Italian Federica Brignone came second (+0.38 seconds), the Swedish Sara Hector came third (+0.45). Julia Scheib was the best Austrian and took fifth place (+0.80) – it was her best World Cup result. Franziska Gritsch took 19th place.
Shiffrin said it was “challenging.” “It was good ground. But almost everyone felt somehow terrible in the first round, I felt outstanding. In the second round I thought to myself, something was crazy in the first round, it won’t be like that once more. I have to attack, but I was also thinking regarding reducing the gap in the giant slalom rankings,” explained the 28-year-old, who lost much of her huge lead from the first round.
Lead expanded in the overall World Cup
Nevertheless, it was still relatively easy for her fourth Lienz success and the second in the giant slalom. Another one might be added in the slalom run on Friday. “My slalom feels good. I think with low temperatures today the slope can develop well,” said Shiffrin. In the discipline ranking she is third (320 points) behind Brignone (400) and sixth-placed Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI/365). In the overall World Cup, Shiffrin leads with 163 points ahead of Brignone.
Scheib improved from 14th place with the second best running time in the second round. Gritsch also made a leap forward in the decision; she was 29th at halftime. Katharina Liensberger, Katharina Rumpf, Elisabeth Kappaurer, Stephanie Brunner, Elisa Mörzinger, Nina Astner, Lisa Hörhager and Ricarda Haaser all failed at the top 30 hurdle. Everyone was more than three seconds behind Shiffrin in the first round.
Anderes Set-up half
“It’s a rumor that it’s just because of the material. You have to be able to ski too. If you’re passive and indecisive at the top, you can’t push the ski. That’s one thing. There is no question that one or two aspects of the set-up can be improved. Scheib has proven that,” said head coach Roland Assinger and did not use the surprisingly smooth conditions as an excuse for not qualifying.
Scheib himself said that a different set-up in the second round helped. “The time was lost in the first run. In the second one I had a much better feeling regarding the set-up. “I made sure that I got to the finish line and that I really stuck to it,” said the Styrian, who “felt much more comfortable” with more grip and was able to attack better. She didn’t think regarding having to prevent a debacle for Austria, she just had skiing on her mind.
Julia Scheib received praise
“I’ll put it this way, we got away with a black eye today. After the first round we pondered hard. I can only congratulate Julia, second time in the second round, that was very good. She really worked her way up, fifth place, career best. You can be happy with her,” said Assinger.
Gritsch’s conclusion was mixed. “It was a bit better than in the first round. Of course I’m not completely satisfied,” said the Tyrolean, who has recently been traveling with a mini team led by her private trainer and partner Florian Stengg. She must continue to work “step by step”.
Training with Vlhova and Robinson
The warm temperatures at the moment would generally not make it easy when it comes to the slope conditions. “But we trained relatively well and prepared well.” In Toblach, Gritsch joined Petra Vlhova and Alice Robinson, and in the future she wants to train more in Tyrol.
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