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Shiffrin shocker overshadows super-G action in Beaver Creek

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December 2, 2017, 6:12 am
shiffrin podium

Mikaela Shiffrin finishes third at a downhill in Lake Louise on Friday (US Ski Team photo).

Eagle-Vail’s Mikaela Shiffrin stole the spotlight from the men’s World Cup action on her home mountain of Beaver Creek, stunning ski racing fans by landing on her first ever speed-event podium in a downhill at Lake Louise, Canada on Friday.

The tech specialist who excels in slalom and giant slalom finished third on Friday and added to her overall World Cup lead. Vail’s Lindsey Vonn, meanwhile, appeared poised to win for the 19th time at Lake Louise (and bump Shiffrin to fourth) but crashed near the bottom of the course.

“Well that hurt… had a nice lead the whole way down but caught my inside ski. That’s ski racing though!” Vonn tweeted Friday. “I’ll be sore [Saturday] but will rest up tonight and barring anything major I will be racing. Can’t keep me down! Congrats on the podium [for Shiffrin] today too.”

“Fence- 0, – 1 That looked nasty, SO relieved to see you ski away from that!” Shiffrin tweeted back.

Back home on the mountain where Shiffrin won a world championship gold medal in slalom in 2015, the U.S. men’s team struggled on the famed Birds of Prey course Friday, with two-time Olympic medalist Andrew Weibrecht the top finisher in the super-G in 21st position.

They hope to redeem themselves in the downhill race at Beaver Creek on Saturday at 11 a.m. The race is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a giant slalom (first run 9:45 a.m.) on Sunday. Go to the official Birds of Prey World Cup website for more information.

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

Surprise performances are nothing new for Mikaela Shiffrin in slalom and giant slalom events. But Friday’s third-place finish in the first downhill of the FIS Ski World Cup season just may be the biggest surprise yet in the young career of the defending overall World Cup Champion.

Austria’s Cornelia Huetter took the win Friday, a career-first World Cup downhill victory and her second career World Cup win. Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein finished second. For Shiffrin, her third-place finish was a career-first podium in a speed event.  Lindsey Vonn was well on her way to her 19th Lake Louise World Cup victory after leading at all four intermediate times, but crashed hard into the safety netting near the finish. Vonn was able to get up and ski to the bottom of the course.

With a steady snow falling, Shiffrin came out of the 10th start position and absolutely nailed the lower portion of the Olympic Downhill course to move into the race lead. However, Weirather, starting 13th, nipped her at the line by 0.21 seconds. Huetter, starting 15th, displayed masterful technical skills to best Weirather by 0.09 seconds and take the win.

Jackie Wiles scored her second career World Cup top-five result, finishing fifth. Breezy Johnson matched her career-best World Cup result, finishing 10th, as Stacey Cook was 11th. Alice McKennis was 24th.

The women race another downhill Saturday, followed by super-G Sunday at Lake Louise.

Weibrecht 21st in Bird of Prey Super G
Andrew Weibrecht led the American Downhillers, taking 21st in Friday’s super-G. Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr took his first career World Cup victory, while Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud was second, followed by Austria’s Hannes Reichelt in third.

RESULTS
Women’s Downhill – Lake Louise
Men’s super-G – Beaver Creek

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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.