Shiffrin earns super-G podium in St. Moritz

Mikaela Shiffrin of Edwards was third in a World Cup super-G in St. Moritz, Switzerland on Saturday — her first podium in the event in nearly two years.

Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami won the race on home snow, edging Italy’s Sofia Goggia, who swept the speed events at Lake Louise, Canada last weekend. Shiffrin was 1.18 seconds back in third on Saturday.

Shiffrin’s result comes hard on the heels of a sixth-place super-G finish in Lake Louise last weekend, and shows she’s starting to find her form in speed — at least in the more technical super-G event — after a lack of training in the discipline over the last couple of years.

”I’m pretty satisfied,” Shiffrin said, according to NBC. “This was my sixth run of super-G in six months. I don’t really trust myself to be the most aggressive on this hill.”

Shiffrin picked up 60 points in her chase for an American record-tying fourth overall World Cup title and now leads the hunt 465 points to 395 for Goggia.

The women race another run of super-G Sunday in St Moritz.

Here’s the full press release from the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team on Saturday’s super-G:

Mikaela Shiffrin showed that she can still rule speed events, capturing her first FIS World Cup speed podium in nearly two years in the super-G in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Breezy Johnson was 12th.

Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland, the reigning super-G World Champion, skied a hill she knew well to the win. Sofia Goggia of Italy, who had swept the speed events at the Lake Louise World Cups last week, took second. 

The course was in excellent condition, but flat light and lightly falling snow made it difficult to see the tricky undulating terrain, which played into Shiffrin’s favor. “You see that this track has so much terrain—it’s a little like every turn has a roll or compression that really throws you around,” said Shiffrin. “I could see that from the start and I decided to try to ski a good solid run and not go too crazy trying to be too aerodynamic when most of the girls were struggling to make clean turns. I was just trying to make as clean turns as I could.”

While Shiffrin is known as a strong technical skier, she is no stranger to the podium in FIS World Cup speed events, but it had been a minute. She was last on the World Cup podium in Bankso, Bulgaria in January 2020, when she won the super-G, and also took third place in the 2021 FIS World Ski Championships super-G in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. But her lack of time with speed boards on her feet this season meant she came in a little wary of her chances.

“I would say this was my sixth run of super-G in six months,” added Shiffrin. “I didn’t really trust myself enough to be the most aggressive on this hill, like I could imagine Lara and Sofia would ski. I have the potential to be competitive, but today is just 100% more practice than what I had yesterday. It was a good run, actually. Quite good.”

Shiffrin’s third-place extends her lead in the FIS overall standings to 465 points above Goggia’s 395. The race was also her 111th podium in 200 World Cup starts—meaning Shiffrin has a 56% chance of finishing in the top three of every race she enters.

U.S. downhill queen Breezy Johnson also had a banner day, capturing 12th place—her third best super-G result in her career. 

Rounding out the Americans, AJ Hurt was 34th, Tricia Mangan 36th, Jackie Wiles 37th and Nina O’Brien 43rd. Isabella Wright and Kelly Cashman did not finish.

Next up, the women race another super-G on Sunday while the men ski slalom in Val d’Isere, France. 

RESULTS
Women’s super-G

STANDINGS
Women’s World Cup overall
Women’s World Cup super-G

HOW TO WATCH
*All times EST.

Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021
12:30 p.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Women’s Super-G – same-day broadcast, St. Moritz, SUI, Broadcast NBCSN

Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021
3:30 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Men’s Slalom, run 1 – LIVE, Val D’Isere, FRA, Ski and Snowboard Live
4:30 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Women’s Super-G – LIVE, St. Moritz, SUI, Broadcast Olympic Channel, Streaming Peacock
7:00 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Men’s Slalom, run 2 – LIVE, Val D’Isere, FRA, Ski and Snowboard Live, Streaming Peacock