US teen Shiffrin wins Bormio slalom in snow, rain
BORMIO, Italy: American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin fought through snow, rain and deep ruts to win her second World Cup slalom of the season Sunday, displaying her ability to deal with all types of...
January 05, 2014
The 18-year-old Shiffrin led by 0.03 seconds after the opening run and ending up winning by 0.13 ahead of Maria Pietilae-Holmner of Sweden for the sixth victory of her career.
Nastasia Noens of France moved up from 13th after the first run to finish third, 0.62 behind.Shiffrin was only 0.01 ahead of Pietilae-Holmner at the final checkpoint but she excelled on the steep finishing gates to add to her lead.
Conditions were difficult with snow falling on the top part of the course and rain at the bottom in the opening run, with spectators holding up umbrellas.
Overall World Cup leader Maria Hoefl-Riesch stood fifth after the opening run but lost control shortly into her second trip down and skied off course.Austrian specialist Marlies Schild recovered from a poor opening run — she was 15th — to finish sixth, with her younger sister Bernadette Schild placing fourth and Marie-Michele Gagnon of Canada fifth.
Marlies Schild won the past two races to set the record for most World Cup slalom victories with 35 and trailed Shiffrin by just two points in the discipline standings entering the race.
Shiffrin now leads by 62 points, with four more slaloms left to defend her season-long title from last year, when she also won the gold medal in the slalom at the world championships in Schladming, Austria.
It was Shiffrin´s third consecutive podium result after placing third and second in a giant slalom and slalom last weekend in Lienz, Austria. Her other win this season came in Levi, Finland, in November.
Noens´ only previous podium result came in a slalom in Flachau, Austria, three years ago.
Resi Stiegler, the only other American starter, was 40th in the first run and failed to qualify for the second leg.
The race was moved from Zagreb due to a lack of snow in Croatia, where Shiffrin also won last year.A men´s slalom is scheduled for Monday night on the Stelvio. The Sochi Games start Feb. 7. (AP)
