“Aare is one of my favorite places in the World Cup,” said Shiffrin, full of anticipation. If the American manages the double in Sweden, she would overtake Stenmark even before her 28th birthday on March 13. “She’s a lot better than I was. I think she can win more than 100 (races, note)” said the now 66-year-old technical specialist, who set his best time in 1989.
But even apart from the Stenmark record, there is still something for Shiffrin to win at the end of an exhausting season in Aare: Before the penultimate race of the season, the 85-time World Cup winner leads the giant slalom ranking with 118 points ahead of the Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami . If Shiffrin, who won the last three World Cup giant slaloms, also wins the discipline ranking, it would be her 14th ball in the 13th season. Shiffrin has already won the Slalom World Cup this season – for the seventh time in total.
The fact that Aare is a special place for Shiffrin is also due to the fact that she celebrated her first World Cup victory there. The then 17-year-old won the slalom on December 20, 2012 ahead of Swede Frida Hansdotter and Slovenian Tina Maze. Since then, Shiffrin has had three more World Cup victories and two World Championship gold medals in 2019.
Hoping for a happy ending
But Katharina Liensberger was able to win the last two Aare slaloms. However, it is very unlikely that the woman from Vorarlberg will be able to win again in Sweden this year, as this season was very disappointing for Liensberger. The 25-year-old has not yet secured a podium finish.
Gritsch intervenes in Aare
A women’s giant slalom is on the program in Aare on Friday. After the success in the Super-G, the ÖSV women around Franziska Gritsch also want to compete for the podium on RTL. Meanwhile, the focus is once again on Mikaela Shiffrin, who could equal Ingemar Stenmark’s record of 86 World Cup victories.
In general, Austria’s technicians are still concerned with a conciliatory end to a messed-up season: in nine slaloms and eight giant slalom runs, Katharina Truppe only managed to get one ÖSV lady on the podium in the Killington slalom (November). Looking further, there are a total of nine top ten finishes in 17 races.
Four of them are attributed to Franziska Gritsch, who took third place in the Kvitfjell-Super-G after an attractive World Championship. “I was so happy, it was really relaxed. Nevertheless, the giant slalom is a different discipline, I have to have my seven things with me,” said the frequent driver from Tyrol before her 30th race of the season. “I’m interested in seeing where I stand in giant slalom when two runs with fast turns really come together. Two fast runs, that’s definitely the goal for the next races.”
“I know I’m fast”
Elisabeth Kappaurer traveled to Aare with the confidence of two second places in the European Cup (Gällivare/Sweden). “I know I’m fast. I can drive off and I know everything is going well – that feels good.” As 25th in the World Cup rankings, the woman from Vorarlberg is currently in the ejection seat together with Stephanie Brunner (ex aequo) when it comes to qualifying for the season finale in Soldeu.
“I hope that I can jump on the bandwagon,” said Kappaurer. Currently there are even seven ÖSV runners in Andorra in the giant slalom discipline. In addition to Kappaurer and Brunner, Julia Scheib (23rd) and Ramona Siebenhofer (24th) also have to tremble.
