Suchi News
KVITFJELL: American figure skater Mikaela Shiffrin will have to wait until the weekend to see if she equals Ingemar Stenmark’s World Cup record of 86 wins after Nina Ortlieb led a sweep. Austrian champion in Super-G on Sunday.
Shiffrin finished seventh, 98 hundredths of a second from victory, after skiing in better conditions than the Austrian trio who all started further down the order in Kvitfjell.
Shiffrin, who turns 28 on March 13, could match or break Stenmark’s World Cup streak on his home turf in Sweden this weekend in Are.
The first skier out of the starting gate, Swiss Jasmine Flury, set the first mark only to be beaten by number 16 Sofia Goggia.
The Italian looked more relaxed in the leader’s seat as the rivals came and couldn’t beat his time – that is until the snow stopped.
Franziska Gritsch was the first successful 26th skier out of the gate, dethroning Goggia.
The 25-year-old just regained composure before teammate Stephanie Venier improved her time.
Remarkably, their teammate Ortlieb, the 31st skier to go, posted a time 0.12sec faster than Venier for just his second World Cup win – also his first the Super-G in La Thuile, Italy, three years ago.
Shiffrin is expected to blossom in the Spring air at the world skiing championships
Amazed by his performance the 26-year-old sank into the snow and shook his head – the Austrian coaches jumping up and down with joy.
“This win makes me very happy,” said Ortlieb.
“It’s amazing to me, even if it’s better when I run than others.”
Goggia, second down on Saturday, didn’t quite get his fourth place.
“I’m disappointed because we came down in such difficult situations, it was unbelievable,” said the 30-year-old.
“The race was interrupted because of the result, the sun came out after number 25, but that’s skiing, there are many things that no one can control.”
It completed a successful weekend for the Austrians as Cornelia Huetter won the first Super-G on Friday.
Shiffrin still leaves Norway after sealing his fifth World Cup title thanks to his below-par performance on Saturday, surpassing the only opponent to catch him. she was, at that time, Lara Gut-Behrami.
The Super-G title, however, remains open – Goggia’s sister Elena Curtoni tops the standings with 332 points, just 19 points ahead of Gut- Behrami.
Huetter and Norwegian Ragnhild Mowinckel are still in the hunt for that glass globe having accumulated 307 and 306 points.
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