Killington (United States) (AFP) – Mikaela Shiffrin’s bid for a milestone 100th alpine World Cup victory was on hold after the US superstar crashed out of the Killington giant slalom won by Sweden’s Sara Hector on Saturday. Shiffrin, already the owner of the most World Cup victories in history, was poised to claim a once unimaginable century after topping the first-run times. She looked on course for the win when she crashed heavily in the second leg, and Sweden’s Olympic gold medallist Hector emerged with the victory with a total of 1min 53.08sec.
Shiffrin said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that the damage was not too bad. “Not really too much cause for concern at this point,” she said in a video from a clinic bed. “I just can’t move. I have a pretty good abrasion,” she added, indicating an area near the front of her left hip, where, she said, “something stabbed me.” “I am so sorry to scare everybody, and it looks like all the scans so far are clear,” said Shiffrin, who added in the post that she would be “cheering from the sidelines” on Sunday.
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Shiffrin, who led after the first leg, had a lead of 17-hundredths of a second over Hector when she appeared to catch an edge heading into the steep final section of the course. She hit a gate and somersaulted into another before sliding into the catch-fencing, but gave a wave to fans as she was taken off the hill. She was taken from the course on a sled, offering a wave to fans on her way.
Shiffrin, 29, already has 13 more World Cup wins than the most successful man, Ingemar Stenmark, and 17 more than the second woman, compatriot Lindsey Vonn. Needing three wins to hit 100 to start the season, she bagged her 98th and 99th career titles with back-to-back slalom wins in Levi, Finland, and Gurgl, Austria. That gave her a chance to complete her century in front of home fans in Killington, not far from where she attended Burke Mountain Academy as a youngster.
Shiffrin — who has won six slaloms at Killington but never a giant slalom — was greeted by ecstatic cheers as she crossed the finish line of the first leg atop the times by 32-hundredths of a second. But her day ended not in celebration but in a rare “Did Not Finish” — just her 21st in 274 career starts and her first in giant slalom since January of 2018. Shiffrin was sidelined six weeks last season after suffering a knee injury when she crashed in a downhill on the Olympia delle Tofane course in Italy, which will be used for the 2026 Olympics. She returned to finish the season but ruled out competing in speed events.
Hector quiets doubts – Hector was delighted with her sixth World Cup victory after what she described as “a little period when I doubted myself,” at the start of the season. “I had a period where I was not skiing good in training and I really had to work a lot mentally,” she said. “The last weeks I would say have been a rollercoaster.” But she was full of sympathy for Shiffrin. “It’s just so sad, of course, to see her crash like that. She was skiing so well. It breaks my heart.”
Croatia’s Zrinka Ljutic finished second, 54-hundredths of a second behind Hector, and Switzerland’s Camille Rast was third, 1.05 seconds back. It was a first-ever podium finish for both, and Rast, in third as Shiffrin started her second run, wasn’t expecting it. “I was down (in the finish area), looking at Mikaela and (thinking) ‘OK, fourth place again and it’s fine in GS,” she said. “I hope she is hurt not so bad …I hope she will be back soon.”
After Sunday’s slalom, the women’s schedule is up in the air after two giant slaloms scheduled for Tremblant, Canada, next weekend were cancelled because of lack of snow.
© 2024 AFP
