Worley and Shiffrin secure slalom ski wins

Worley and Shiffrin secure slalom ski wins
By Euronews
Share this articleComments
Share this articleClose Button

Hello and welcome to Gravity, our weekly magazine dedicated to winter sports.

ADVERTISEMENT

Hello and welcome to Gravity, our weekly magazine dedicated to winter sports. For the first time, the Alpine Skiing World Cup made a stopover in Killington, in the northeast of the United States. The giant on Saturday was won by the Frenchwoman Tessa Worley, who had not reached the podium for 1077 days!

Worley wins first slalom skiing title after three years

Although it’s just the second giant slalom of the Alpine Skiing world cup season, this victory certainly provides Worley with a boost of confidence. It marks her first win since a knee injury three years ago and her ninth giant slalom World Cup victory.

The 27-year old won this event back at the 2013 world championships. She made her World Cup debut at age 16. Worley competes in all five alpine disciplines and is a giant slalom specialist.

She was initially in second place after the first run in the fog-hit US resort of Killington in Vermont. But her she bounced back in the second run despite clocking only the eight fastest time. It was enough to see off her rivals to claim a convincing victory.

Tessa Worley:
“I made preparations which were good, I am ready, I have all the tools on hand. After, the tools, it is necessary to use them well on the day of the races. And it is true that when we have the small stress of the race, it is not always easy to be also relaxed and to do things as well.”

Norway’s Nina Loeseth was the early pace setter topping the timesheets after the first run. The 27 year-old skier seemed to struggle in the afternoon but did enough to secure second place.She missed out on her career second victory by just eight tenths of a second.

Rounding out the podium in third place was Italy’s Sofia Goggia. She secured the final podium spot with a time of 2:00.37.
The 24-year old Bergamo native started the second run down in 12th position but went on to clock the fastest time of the day to lift her into third for her best career result.

Shiffrin wins slalom in Vermont

In the ski resort of Vermont, there was also a slalom on Sunday with a big favourite, Mikaela Shiffrin.

American skiing sensation Mikaela Shiffrin has squeezed in another slalom title under her belt. The reigning Olympic and world champion in slalom won her fifth straight World Cup slalom on Sunday.

The 21 year-old was the crowd favourite as she attended the local Burke Mountain Academy in northern Vermont. This weekend’s World Cup races are the first for Killington and the first in 38 years in Vermont.

She is overall World Cup leader, finisheding in a combined 1 minute, 27.95 seconds. Shiffrin also won the first slalom of the World Cup season in Finland.

Meanwhile Slovakia’s Veronika Velez- Zuzulova came in just 0.73 seconds behind her. Veronika is seen as the most successful Slovak alpine skier in recent years. Her best results in the World Cup season standings came in the 2013 season, where she finished third in slalom and 12th overall.

Taking the final podium spot was Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener who came in third at 1:28.81.
Holdner is in a tight race with her American rival. Shiffrin’s first in slalom and fifth in giant slalom at Killington, has extended her lead over Holdner in the overall standings. Holdener has 168 points while Shiffrin leads with 325 points.

Speedy ski racers start the season

This week, the specialists of the speed races will finally start their season. The women will be in Lake Louise for two downhills and a super-giant. And the men will be in Val d’Isère for a downhill and a super-giant. Adrien Théaux, who has 3 victories and 13 podium finishes in the World Cup, has pins and needles in his legs.

Adrien Théaux:
“The training, that remains the training and the races are totally different. It is not all the time the one who wins the trainings who wins the races.Especially that during the summer, the conditions of snow are different from those of the winter. I look forward to attacking because we want to know where we are, if we made a good preparation, and then simply we want to fight against the chronometer and against the skiers of the other nations, because it is what we like.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Remembering skiing superstar Bode Miller

In our section “skiing past”, we now take a jump of 12 years behind us. At that time, in Lake Louise as elsewhere, the boss of the circuit was named Bode Miller.

Bode Miller has become synonymous with skiing. He is considered the most successful male American alpine ski racer of all time.

Bode is an Olympic and World Championship gold medalist and a two-time overall World Cup champion in 2005 and 2008.

A native of New Hampshire, he has won six medals in the Winter Olympics, the most of any U.S. skier. He won two silver medals (in giant slalom and combined) in Salt Lake City 2002.

ADVERTISEMENT

He then won a medal of every colour at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics with a gold (super combined), a silver (super-G) and a bronze (downhill). He capped off his Olympic career with a bronze (in the super-G) in Sochi 2014.

As one of five men to win World Cup events in all five disciplines, Bode has left an unforgetable legacy in skiing. He will be remembered as one of the greatest World Cup racers of all time

We finish this episode of Gravity with ski jumping. The kick-off of the season was given to the big hill of Ruka, in Finland, with victories for the Slovene Domen Prevc and for the German Severin Freund. Here are the most beautiful images of these competitions: “it’s snowtime”.

Share this articleComments

You might also like

FIFA World Cup 2026: A look ahead to an historic tournament

The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup: New favourites and shock exits

The MLS is back: One of the world’s fastest growing leagues?