(Saint-Moritz) When Mikaela Shiffrin wins a downhill, her rivals have less hope of stopping her in her quest for a sixth overall World Cup title.
Shiffrin mastered the tightest turns on a sunny course Saturday in St. Moritz, finishing 0.15 seconds ahead of standout downhill racer Sofia Goggia, who won the super-G on Friday.
Watching Goggia’s race closely from the finish zone, Shiffrin raised both arms and put her hands on her head as she saw that her lead had held up.
“I felt really good,” said Shiffrin, one of the earliest starters, third. I wasn’t sure if the rest of my run was good enough. »
Federica Brignone finished third at 0.17 to complete a high-quality podium for the first race of the season in the renowned speed event.
The skiers were clocked at speeds of 70 mph.
Stefanie Fleckenstein of Whistler, British Columbia, was the only Canadian to compete. She finished 28th.
Shiffrin earned 100 World Cup points for her victory and already leads the season standings with 195 points more than 2020 overall queen Brignone.
The 28-year-old American has five overall titles, and a sixth would equal Austrian great Annemarie Moser-Pröll’s record, set in the 1970s.
Shiffrin took her own record for World Cup wins to 91, with only her fourth coming in the downhill.
The most recent took place in March 2022 at the conclusion of the season in Courchevel, France.
Although Shiffrin selectively chooses her runs — given a racing and training schedule that prioritizes slalom and giant slalom — she still finished in the top 10 in each of her five starts last season.
Shiffrin was competing in a sixth World Cup campaign when she first raced downhill; she now has four wins in just 21 starts.
She has never won a medal at the major downhill championships.
The race took place under glorious sunshine and clear blue skies on a -5°C day in St. Moritz, where the finish was at an altitude above 2000 meters.
Shiffrin excelled in the winding middle section of the 2.5-kilometer course. That suited her technical skills better than a speed specialist like Goggia, a former Olympic downhill champion who topped the World Cup downhill rankings four times.
St. Moritz will be the scene of another super-G on Sunday.