Coming into the final regular season World Cup races, Mikaela Shiffrin only needed to score 39 more World Cup points to secure her second consecutive overall title. She would have two opportunities to do it in the GS and the slalom at Ofterschwang. Not leaving anything to chance, the American skied to third place in the giant slalom on Friday and secured her second big crystal globe. Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg took second place in front of her home crowd and Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel skied to her first World Cup win ever.
“It’s an incredible moment right now,” Shiffrin said. “After last year when I won the overall, some people were saying it was sort of fake ‘because the other girls weren’t there and there was nobody to challenge her.’ So to have the overall this year locked in already before we go to (World Cup) Finals, it feels like a confirmation for me.”
Shiffrin is only the second American woman to win multiple World Cup overall globes after Lindsey Vonn, who has earned four. The last skier to win consecutive overall crystal globes was Austria’s Anna Veith in 2014 and 2015. With a total of 1573 points, she has a more than 600 point lead over Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener, who is currently second in the overall standings. Shiffrin could decide to sit out the rest of the season and would still walk away with the end-of-season victory.
Mikaela Shiffrin skis to her second consecutive World Cup overall title. // Image credit: GEPA / Florian Ertl
“Today, I thought, ‘Yeah, I want to win this race. I want to be my best GS skiing, but I don’t want to do something stupid,” Shiffrin shared. “My biggest worry was to lose 500 points in the overall, and then somebody else takes it…so that’s a bit of a relief.”
This result marked Shiffrin’s 60th World Cup podium result, 16 of which she earned this season alone. Even with that stellar season, she is nearly 1,000 points shy of the record for most points in a single season, which is held by retired Slovenian athlete Tina Maze who scored 2,414 points in the 2013 season. Shiffrin could close that gap a bit between now and the end of World Cup Finals, but she will not be able to catch it this season.
There are still discipline globes to be won and the giant slalom globe has been hotly contested. Rebensburg maintained her lead in the discipline standings thanks to her strong second-place performance at Ofterschwang.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=xnf1pBuw27Y
Barring disaster, Rebensburg will win the GS globe. Tessa Worley of France is the only one with a mathematical chance of catching her, but with 92 points between them, it’s unlikely. Shiffrin now sits third in the GS standings with 101 points between her and Rebensburg and only one GS race left in the season. She could not win the GS globe even in Rebensburg crashes and Shiffrin wins in Are, Sweden, next week.
While the day’s winner, Mowinckel, will not end the season with a globe, it has been an incredible season for the up-and-coming Norwegian. This is by far her best year yet, having already earned 815 World Cup points–more than double what she earned last season. She also won two Olympic silver medals. On Friday, she became the first Norwegian woman to win a GS since Andrine Flemmen did so in Soelden back in 2002. Having already reached her goals for this season, the Attacking Viking is looking forward to maintaining this level of skiing for World Cup Finals.
Image credit: FIS
“I just continue where I am,” she said. “I’m in a very good spot with my skiing. It’s very stable and right now, I really trust it a lot, so I’m just going to do the same. It’s a boring thing to say, but it’s just what I’m going to do.”
Shiffrin was the only North American athlete to start in the GS. Women’s World Cup action continues on Saturday with the women’s slalom.
Top 10
- Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR) – Head / Head / Head
- Viktoria Rebensburg (GER) – Stoeckli / Lange / Marker
- Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
- Ricarda Haaser (AUT) – Fischer / Fischer / Fischer
- Marta Bassino (ITA) – Salomon / Salomon / Salomon
- Frida Hansdotter (SWE) – Rossignol / Look / Rossignol
- Nina Haver-Loeseth (NOR) – Rossignol / Look / Rossignol
- Manuela Moelgg (ITA) – Dynastar / Lange / Look
- Kristin Lysdahl (NOR) – Rossignol / Look / Rossignol
- Irene Curtoni (ITA) – Head / Head / Head
