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Eagle-Vail’s Shiffrin finishes fifth in season-opening giant slalom in Soelden, Austria

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October 28, 2017, 7:22 pm
shiffrin fifth in soelden

Mikaela Shiffrin skis to fifth place in the Soelden giant slalom. (Getty Images/AFP-Georg Hochimuth)

Eagle-Vail’s Mikaela Shiffrin, the defending overall World Cup champion, finished fifth in the season opener Saturday in Soelden, Austria. The race was won by Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany.

Here’s the press release from the U.S. Ski Team:

Shiffrin Fifth in Soelden World Cup Opener

SOELDEN, Austria (Oct. 28, 2017) – Kicking off the Olympic season and 2017-18 FIS World Cup, Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.) took fifth place at the annual giant slalom in Soelden, Austria.

Steep and relentless, the GS track was set tight and turny on the Rettenbach Glacier. Shiffrin sat in second place after first run and put it all on the line for second run. But a bobble on the pitch set her back and she couldn’t make up the time—dropping to fifth place.

“The biggest competition I have right now is with myself,” said Shiffrin after the race. “I feel really good with where my GS is right now. I’m disappointed because I didn’t make turns today like I know I can. I’m now looking forward to the next GS in Killington—that’s really a cool hill and it will be great to be racing again in the USA.”

Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany took the win in Soelden, with last year’s giant slalom crystal globe winner Tessa Worley of France just .14 seconds behind her in second. Manuela Moelgg of Italy was third.

Also skiing the Soelden giant slalom was Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.), racing in Soelden for the first time since 2012. A speed skier by trade—it had been 637 days since her last giant slalom race—she was happy to have her first start of the season. “It was nice to get a start in,” said Vonn, who did not qualify for second run. “I’m always really nervous in the first race. It was good to get that out of the way and now I’m ready for Lake Louise.”

Foreste Peterson (Squaw Valley, Calif.)—who was racing her first World Cup—and Megan McJames (Park City, Utah) also did not qualify for the second run.

The World Cup weekend will finish Sunday with Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah) making his comeback after back surgery in January. He’s won in Soelden four times and has podiumed seven times. See how to watch the race here.

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David O. Williams

Managing Editor at RealVail
David O. Williams is the editor and co-founder of RealVail.com and has had his awarding-winning work (see About Us) published in more than 75 newspapers and magazines around the world, including 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), the Anchorage Daily Press (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, Aspen Journalism, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming), the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Central Magazine, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics (formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Colorado Times Recorder, the Cortez Journal, the Craig Daily Press, the Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Del Norte Triplicate (California), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Gazette, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, Explore Big Sky (Mont.), the Fort Morgan Times (Colorado), the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), the Kingman Daily Miner (Arizona), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the Las Vegas Sun, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, the London Daily Mirror, the Moab Times Independent (Utah), the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), the Montrose Daily Press, The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, the Rio Blanco Herald Times (Colorado), Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), the Salt Lake Tribune, SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Sky-Hi News, the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the Sterling Journal Advocate (Colorado), the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Health Magazine, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail, Westword (Denver), Writers on the Range and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.