Weirather wins first career GS, Shiffrin grabs top 10

By Published On: December 22nd, 2013Comments Off on Weirather wins first career GS, Shiffrin grabs top 10
Tina Weirather in Val d'Isere (GEPA/Andreas Pranter)

Tina Weirather in Val d’Isere (GEPA/Andreas Pranter)

The second run of Sunday’s Val d’Isere GS featured a tough right-footer less than 30 seconds into the Austrian-set course. The turn was progressively less troublesome for the later racers, those who were faster in the morning, including the day’s winner, Tina Weirather, who extended her lead in the overall standings.

It was a dark and bumpy day of racing on the Oreiller Killy slope, but a fairly straightforward set once past the tricky upper section, where all three French skiers and Julia Mancuso were removed from the course.

As she has been on other occasions this season, Weirather was a skier unto herself, picking up speed at every split and ultimately besting runner-up Lara Gut by 0.73 seconds.

“It took me a very long time to get here,” said Weirather, for whom the result is just her second career podium and first-ever victory in GS. “I’ve been trying to be good in GS since I’ve been skiing on the World Cup tour, like when I was 17. Now I’m 24 and I have my first win, and it just feels great to get here. … I think I did a good job over the past two or three years, and I changed some things and now it’s working.”

The daughter of World Cup racers Harti Weirather and Hanni Wenzel, Weirather has been in the top five in every race she’s finished this season (all but three) and ascended the podium in three separate disciplines (GS, super G and downhill). Sunday was her second win of the season and the third of her career.

Lara Gut, another contender for the overall title, skied well enough through the upper section but really charged the lower half to secure second place, her seventh podium of the winter.

Sweden’s Maria Pietilae-Holmner has been knocking on the door all season, and finally landed a podium. She was clean up top, may have over-skied the middle part of the course but was able to generate speed toward the bottom. It was a good day all around for the Swedes as Jessica Lindell-Vikarby, the GS winner in Beaver Creek, skied to sixth. Kajsa Kling, starting bib 40, laid down the early time to beat, occupying the leader’s box for almost two-thirds of the race — she ended up 10th on the day.

American Mikaela Shiffrin, who has not been performing to the best of her abilities since returning to Europe, improved on her recent outings. The 18-year-old skied the technical upper section as well as anyone, but just wasn’t quite able to generate speed through the middle part of the course like some of the other women. She finished eighth, certainly an improvement from 12th in the Courchevel slalom and a DNF in the St. Moritz GS.

“The first run was definitely pretty open, and they were both really awesome courses so it was a matter of charging every gate,” said Shiffrin. “I felt like I was skiing solid, but the first run maybe not as much charging as I needed. On the second run I attacked a little bit more.

“I’m really excited with where I’m taking my giant slalom right now,” added Shiffrin. “In training, I’m skiing faster than in racing, so I have a lot of potential, but the trick is getting the training skiing into the races. That’s not always so easy, but there’s something to be said for the girls who can do that.”

Maria Hoefl-Riesch snatched up a short-lived lead held by Shiffrin to finish fifth. The German has been amassing solid results across all disciplines, making her a threat in the tight overall standings, where she now sits third (535) behind Gut in second (568) and Weirather in first (595).

See more pictures from today’s race in our gallery.

 

The Scoop

By Hank McKee

Women’s World Cup giant slalom, Val d’Isere, France. Dec. 22, 2013

Equipment – Skier, skis/boots/bindings

1 Weirather, Atomic/Tecnica/Atomic

2 Gut, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

3 Pietilae-Holmner, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

4 Brignone, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol

5 Hoefl-Riesch, Head/Lange/Head

6 Lindell-Vikarby, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

7 Fenninger, Head/Head/head

8 Shiffrin, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

9 Gisin, Dynastar/Lange/Marker

10 Kling, Head/Head/Head

Women’s World Cup giant slalom, Val d’Isere, France. Dec. 22, 2013. … It is the 13th of 32 races on the women’s schedule… the fourth of eight scheduled GS’s. … It is the 163rd event held at least in part at Val ‘Isere. … the 44th GS.

It is the third career World Cup win for Tina Weirather, her first in GS. … All three wins have come in this calendar year starting March 1 in super G at Garmisch, with the second at St. Moritz Dec. 14. … The only other Liechtenstein winner at Val d’Isere was Tina’s uncle Andreas Wenzel in a combined in 1981.

It is Lara Gut’s 14th World Cup podium result… her fourth in GS. It is her fifth podium finish of the season, the first that is not a win.

It is the fifth career World Cup podium for Maria Pietilae-Holmner, the first in GS. … Her last podium came Nov. 27, 2011 at Aspen.

It is the 22nd career World Cup top 10 for Mikaela Shiffrin and matches her third best GS result. … It is the sixth time this season Marie-Michele Gagnon has finished in the top dozen of a World Cup race. … The third score of the season for Maire-Pier Prefontaine. … It is the second GS score of the season for Megan McJames.

Weirather leads the World Cup overall standings 595-568 over Lara Gut. … Mara Hoefl-Riesch (fifth in race) is third overall with 535pts. … Mikaela Shiffrin in sixth with 274pts and Gagnon leads Canada in 12th with 219pts.

Jessica Lindell-Vikarby (sixth in race) leads the giant slalom standings 252-205 over Weirather. … Maria Pietilae-Holmner is third with 186pts. … Shiffrin is sixth with 152pts. … Gagnon in 15th with 68pts.

 

Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time FIS Points
 1  18  355050 WEIRATHER Tina 1989 LIE  1:08.23  1:15.87  2:24.10  0.00
 2  1  516138 GUT Lara 1991 SUI  1:09.08  1:15.75  2:24.83  4.51
 3  15  505760 PIETILAE-HOLMNER Maria 1986 SWE  1:08.89  1:16.16  2:25.05  5.87
 4  12  297601 BRIGNONE Federica 1990 ITA  1:09.40  1:15.81  2:25.21  6.86
 5  6  206001 HOEFL-RIESCH Maria 1984 GER  1:09.65  1:15.61  2:25.26  7.16
 6  2  505632 LINDELL-VIKARBY Jessica 1984 SWE  1:09.21  1:16.06  2:25.27  7.23
 7  7  55947 FENNINGER Anna 1989 AUT  1:09.35  1:15.93  2:25.28  7.29
 8  3  6535237 SHIFFRIN Mikaela 1995 USA  1:09.79  1:15.78  2:25.57  9.08
 9  13  515747 GISIN Dominique 1985 SUI  1:09.46  1:16.28  2:25.74  10.13
 10  40  505886 KLING Kajsa 1988 SWE  1:10.83  1:14.96  2:25.79  10.44
 11  4  565243 MAZE Tina 1983 SLO  1:10.44  1:15.42  2:25.86  10.87
 12  16  105269 GAGNON Marie-Michele 1989 CAN  1:09.40  1:16.56  2:25.96  11.49
 13  5  55838 ZETTEL Kathrin 1986 AUT  1:09.30  1:16.75  2:26.05  12.04
 14  10  296729 FANCHINI Nadia 1986 ITA  1:09.44  1:16.68  2:26.12  12.48
 15  43  425887 LOESETH Mona 1991 NOR  1:10.43  1:15.80  2:26.23  13.16
 16  29  425771 LOESETH Nina 1989 NOR  1:10.04  1:16.24  2:26.28  13.46
 17  44  55977 THALMANN Carmen 1989 AUT  1:10.74  1:15.69  2:26.43  14.39
 18  8  55898 BREM Eva-Maria 1988 AUT  1:10.36  1:16.60  2:26.96  17.66
 19  20  295445 KARBON Denise 1980 ITA  1:10.23  1:16.75  2:26.98  17.79
 20  24  106825 PREFONTAINE Marie-Pier 1988 CAN  1:10.46  1:16.66  2:27.12  18.65
 21  37  506399 HECTOR Sara 1992 SWE  1:10.82  1:16.39  2:27.21  19.21
 22  22  185140 POUTIAINEN Tanja 1980 FIN  1:10.51  1:17.06  2:27.57  21.43
 23  21  55759 KIRCHGASSER Michaela 1985 AUT  1:10.10  1:17.59  2:27.69  22.17
 24  31  56087 SIEBENHOFER Ramona 1991 AUT  1:10.36  1:17.49  2:27.85  23.16
 25  11  196793 MARMOTTAN Anemone 1988 FRA  1:10.07  1:17.84  2:27.91  23.53
 26  46  538284 MCJAMES Megan 1987 USA  1:10.91  1:17.06  2:27.97  23.90
Did not qualify for 2nd run
   67  465098 CAILL Ania Monica 1995 ROU        
   66  495318 RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina 1981 SPA        
   65  565360 STUHEC Ilka 1990 SLO        
   64  405138 JELINKOVA Adriana 1995 NED        
   63  107044 IRWIN Madison 1991 CAN        
   62  425880 SEJERSTED Lotte Smiseth 1991 NOR        
   61  537772 STIEGLER Resi 1985 USA        
   60  565373 ROBNIK Tina 1991 SLO        
   58  516268 WILD Simone 1993 SUI        
   57  298124 AGNELLI Nicole 1992 ITA        
   56  298084 AGERER Lisa Magdalena 1991 ITA        
   55  107532 TOMMY Mikaela 1995 CAN        
   54  106961 MIELZYNSKI Erin 1990 CAN        
   52  297702 MARSAGLIA Francesca 1990 ITA        
   51  515766 SUTER Fabienne 1985 SUI        
   50  55750 FISCHBACHER Andrea 1985 AUT        
   47  306977 MUKOGAWA Sakurako 1992 JPN        
   45  565331 LAVTAR Katarina 1988 SLO        
   41  297171 FANCHINI Sabrina 1988 ITA        
   39  297910 CURTONI Elena 1991 ITA        
   38  425929 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild 1992 NOR        
   36  56125 PUCHNER Mirjam 1992 AUT        
   35  206408 WEINBUCHNER Susanne 1991 GER        
   34  305962 HANAOKA Moe 1984 JPN        
   32  306249 HASEGAWA Emi 1986 JPN        
   26  196725 BARIOZ Taina 1988 FRA        
   23  565268 DREV Ana 1985 SLO        
   19  55818 KOEHLE Stefanie 1986 AUT        
   17  55576 GOERGL Elisabeth 1981 AUT        
Did not finish 2nd run
   33  197319 BAUD Adeline 1992 FRA        
   30  196179 BERTRAND Marion 1984 FRA        
   27  296259 MOELGG Manuela 1983 ITA        
   14  537545 MANCUSO Julia 1984 USA        
Did not finish 1st run
   59  485563 PROSTEVA Elena 1990 RUS        
   53  206444 HOESL Simona 1992 GER        
   49  155699 PAULATHOVA Katerina 1993 CZE        
   48  506348 STAALNACKE Ylva 1992 SWE        
   42  516280 HOLDENER Wendy 1993 SUI        
   28  206367 HRONEK Veronique 1991 GER        
   25  196726 BARTHET Anne-Sophie 1988 FRA        
   9  505679 HANSDOTTER Frida 1985 SWE    

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About the Author: Geoff Mintz

Geoff Mintz is a former alpine ski racer who cut his teeth at Ragged Mountain and Waterville Valley, N.H. After graduating from Holderness and UVM, he relocated to Colorado, where he worked on the hill prior to pursuing a career in journalism. Mintz served as associate editor for Ski Racing Media from 2011 to 2015. He later reconnected with his local roots to manage all marketing and communications for Ski & Snowboard Club Vail before resuming work at SRM as editor-in-chief.