YOUR AD HERE »

Shiffrin wins World Cup super-G title for 10th career globe

Sports Sports |

The Associated Press
  

Show CaptionsHide Captions

SOLDEU, Andorra — Mikaela Shiffrin won the World Cup super-G title on Thursday after placing fourth in the season-ending race, which was won by Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany.

It was the American’s 10th career crystal globe but the first in a speed discipline. She has also won three overall titles and six slalom titles.

“It’s special because I really never thought I could be in this position this season already in super-G,” said Shiffrin, whose title comes five weeks after she won gold in super-G at the world championships.

Shiffrin had not won a race in the discipline before this season, but triumphed in all three previous World Cup super-Gs she competed in this campaign and praised her speed coaches from the U.S. ski team for helping her.

“The way that everybody came together and made this work was just amazing,” Shiffrin said. “We are all so proud and everybody feels some ownership of this.”

Shiffrin’s title chase got a boost because several races she had not entered were canceled, most notably last week in Sochi, where two super-Gs were called off because of bad weather.

Shiffrin, who locked up the overall and the slalom titles weeks ago, is the first woman since Tina Maze six years ago to win discipline titles in a technical and a speed event in the same season.

“I’ve dreamed about someday, maybe, being able to win a globe in super-G but I really wasn’t expecting it this season,” said Shiffrin, who turned 24 on Wednesday.

Shiffrin started the race with a 36-point lead over Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein, who won the super-G title the last two seasons. Weirather posted the fastest split times but skied out halfway down her run as she came wide on a turn and missed the upcoming gate.

Rebensburg beat Tamara Tippler of Austria by 0.15 seconds to win the race, with Federica Brignone of Italy 0.34 behind in third.

Shiffrin shared fourth with Nicole Schmidhofer of Austria, 0.44 behind. Schmidhofer finished runner-up in the standings, trailing the American by 47 points.

“In the start I had no idea how it went with Nicci or with Tina, and I knew that it was going to be a battle and everybody would be going for it,” Shiffrin said. “The way I have been skiing super-G all season I felt like, I didn’t know if it was enough to win but I knew that if I could be aggressive, I really had a good chance for the globe. I had to focus on my skiing and on my tactics. It worked out just enough.”

The women used the same course as the one for the men’s race later Thursday, though some gates were set differently.

Sports
See more

Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Glenwood Springs and Garfield County make the Post Independent’s work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.