KVITFJELL: American ski superstar Mikaela Shiffrin must wait till next weekend to see if she equals Ingemar Stenmark’s World Cup record of 86 wins after Nina Ortlieb led a surprise Austrian clean sweep in the Super-G on Sunday.
Shiffrin finished seventh, 98 hundredths of a second off the winner, having skied in trickier conditions than the Austrian trio who all started low down the order at Kvitfjell.
Shiffrin, who turns 28 on March 13, could equal or indeed even break Stenmark’s World Cup milestone on his home territory in Sweden next weekend at Are.
The first skier out of the starting gate, Swiss Jasmine Flury, had set the early marker only to be edged out by number 16 starter Sofia Goggia.
The Italian looked ever more serene sitting in the leader’s chair as rivals came and failed to beat her time – that is until the snow stopped falling.
Franziska Gritsch was the first to benefit as the 26th skier out of the gate, dislodging Goggia from the throne.
The 25-year-old had just got herself comfortable before compatriot Stephanie Venier bettered her time.
Then remarkably their team-mate Ortlieb, the 31st skier to go, posted a time 0.12sec faster than Venier to record only her second ever World Cup victory – the previous one also a Super-G in La Thuile, Italy, three years ago.
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Stunned by her performance the 26-year-old sank to the snow shaking her head – the Austrian coaching team jumping up and down delirious with joy.
“This victory brings me a lot of pleasure,” said Ortlieb.
“It is incredible for me, even if the conditions were better when I raced than for the others.”
Goggia, second in the downhill on Saturday, did not take her fourth-placed finish well.
“I am disappointed because we came down in very difficult conditions, they were unbelievable,” said the 30-year-old.
“The race was distorted as a result, the sun came out after racer number 25, but that is skiing, there are plenty of things one cannot control.”
It completed a successful weekend for the Austrians as Cornelia Huetter had won the first Super-G on Friday.
Shiffrin still leaves Norway having sealed her fifth overall World Cup crown thanks to her performance in Saturday’s downhill, bettering the only rival who could at the time catch her, Lara Gut-Behrami.
The Super-G title, though, remains wide open – Goggia’s compatriot Elena Curtoni tops the standings on 332 points but only 19 points ahead of Gut-Behrami.
Huetter and Norwegian Ragnhild Mowinckel also remain firmly in the hunt for that crystal globe having accrued 307 and 306 points respectively.
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