Lara Gut-Behrami GEPA pictures/Matic Klansek Stifel Killington Cup
Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami is currently the world’s best women’s GS skier. She has been outstanding and has won both GS races of the season. This time it wasn’t close. Gut-Behrami beat first-run leader New Zealand’s Alice Robinson by (-0.62). Also, with a very appreciative home crowd cheering her on, Mikaela Shiffrin moves up to third and earns her first GS podium of the new season. Her 140th World Cup podium of her amazing career.
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Today marks Gut-Behrami’s second win in Killington and her 7th career World Cup GS victory. Her skiing was, undoubtedly, the best of the day. The veteran Swiss woman has been fantastic this season, perhaps her best GS ever. It is also wonderful to see Robinson return to the podium. Although the 21-year-old is young, she is undoubtedly a veteran, an exciting performer, and a valuable member of the World Cup. Shiffrin is a superstar athlete who never fails to deliver compelling drama.
During the second run, Canada’s Valerie Grenier displayed her excellence to a delighted crowd. The 2023 Kranjska Gora GS winner is better than ever. She crossed with a (-0.40) lead with six racers remaining to race. After taking the leader’s throne, she watched Italian Federica Brignone finish (+0.33) behind her, but then the woman everyone had come to ski delivered perhaps her best GS of the new season. Not perfect but deliberate and determined. Mikaela Shiffrin took a (-0.63) lead with a classic piece of Shiffrin excellence. This time, the crowd delivered a level 12 volume on a scale of zero to ten. Shiffrin ends her day with her first GS podium of the 2023/24 season.
“I am extremely happy, especially after last year here, I started to feel like it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy that I couldn’t ski my best here in Killington on the GS slope,” said Shiffrin, who placed 13th a year ago but now has three podium results from six starts in her home GS.
“It’s been an adventure today to kind of find my best feeling I can have with, you know, some compromised training the last weeks. And I felt some really amazing skiing, some glimpses from last season, so I’m really excited and thankful for my team for the work they’ve done the last weeks to get there.”
Adopted New Englander Paula Moltzan, tied 15th after the first run, ultimately ignited the Killington crowd by crossing with the lead and taking her seat on the leader’s throne. Moltzan is known for her power, but her second run displayed balanced aggression and precision. She watched as the leader for the next five racers. Moltzan used her second run performance to move up to 8th place.
Moltzan remarked, “It was a great second run. I’m happy to be able to pull it out and show all the American fans the fast skiing. I’ve had this last couple of weeks leading into the race.”
Second run movers and shakers
Watching good second runs rewarded with a significant climb up the result page is always exciting. Saturday was, however, was interesting. The lead changed regularly because of the perfect conditions, but three racers among the first ten on the course were able to move up significantly. After the first 15 racers skied the second run, 17-year-old Lara Colturi and Austrian Franziska Gritsch both moved up 8 positions. By the end of the race, the two had each moved up 15 positions. Equally as impressive Austria’s Katharina Liensberger tied Colturi for the fastest second run to move up 13 positions and finish just outside the top ten in 11th.
Five North American women score
Stifel US Ski Team member AJ Hurt, who delivered a fantastic morning run, struggled to deliver at the same level in the afternoon. However, Hurt finished well within the points and showed she had the speed to be a contender. Saturday, she ends the day in 19th place. Also, in only her 12th World Cup start, the young Canadian, Britt Richardson, finished the first run in 10th but didn’t match her first run performance in the finale. But she also finished well inside the points in 22nd.
AJ Hurt commented, “My strategy was to ski with confidence, be aggressive, fight the entire way down, and not let the course dictate my skiing.”
The collegiate skier from the University of Colorado, Poland’s Magdalena Luczak, ended the day 17th.
Italian Marta Bassino, who was fourth after the first run, was the only competitor not to finish the second run.
Results of the Stifel Killington Cup GS and analysis of the fastest three and the North Americans
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