Shiffrin grabs lead after 1st run of World Cup slalom
Bidding to become the first American woman to win a World Cup race on Aspen Mountain since Tamara McKinney in 1981, the EagleVail resident was in the lead two gates from the finish Friday when she suffered an uncharacteristic lapse of concentration and fell in a giant slalom she seemed sure to win.
Gut completed the course in a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 2.51 seconds, edging Austria’s Eva-Maria Brem by 0.10 seconds.
As Shiffrin buried her face in the snow, Gut watched in disbelief.
One week out from the Audi Birds of Prey World Cup in Beaver Creek, Colorado, the men are in Lake Louise, Alberta, this week for downhill Saturday and super-G Sunday. “To happen in Aspen is really disappointing”. “And today in the start gate, I thought, ‘You can ski, do what you can and not fight like a year ago, enjoy your run.’ And this is what happened”.
Shiffrin, however, never made it across the finish line on her run. Right before the third-to-last gate, she said she was thinking, “Wow, I can’t believe I made it this far”. She also notes, “It finally feels like the pieces of the puzzle are coming together for me”.
While Lindsey Vonn was seen as another contender for the GS win in Aspen on her return to the World Cup circuit, her ski popped off part way down the course.
Says Vonn: “I’m fine. Everyone is pushing each other and for them I am skiing good in the race so they know they can be on the top because we are skiing all together always”, said Brignone. The four-time World Cup champion was running seventh when she faltered, the third of 18 skiers who failed to finish the opening run. Brignone amassed a big lead after the first run in Soelden and Shiffrin couldn’t make up the ground. It’s never happened to me in a race before.
Vonn said she trained for the giant slalom Thursday in Vail with members of the Austrian men’s team and she felt “really good, really confident”.