Tie goes to the runner, right?<\/p>\n
Ironically, in her \u201cworst\u201d super-G performance of the season, tying for fourth with Austria\u2019s Nicole Schmidhofer during Thursday\u2019s World Cup finals in Soldeu, Andorra, Vail\u2019s Mikaela Shiffrin iced the first World Cup super-G title of her career.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s pretty impressive given, that the now 24-year-old Shiffrin \u2014 her birthday was Wednesday \u2014 only competed in four World Cup super-Gs all season.<\/p>\n
Shiffrin won three super-G starts ( Lake Louise, Alberta, St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Cortina Italy) and a tie for fourth with Schmidhofer gives the American 350 points on the season to the Austrian\u2019s 303 and Lichtenstein\u2019s Tina Weirather (268). That\u2019s World Cup title No. 3 this season for Shiffrin, who\u2019s already clinched the overall and slalom titles, going into this season.<\/p>\n
Germany\u2019s Viktoria Rebensburg won Thursday\u2019s super-G in Andorra with a time of 1 minute, 23.91 seconds, ahead of Austria\u2019s Tamara Tippler (15-hundredths of a second behind) and Italy\u2019s Federica Brignone (34-hundredths back). But for Shiffrin, the key was to stay ahead of Schmidhofer and Weirather in Thursday\u2019s race to win the globe. The tie with Schmidhofer was as good as a win and Weirather was a DNF.<\/p>\n
\nWHOA!! Sitting in fourth, the super-G globe is officially @MikaelaShiffrin<\/a>‘s!! ???#SoldeuElTarterWCF19<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/aciuPSi949<\/a><\/p>\n
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\u2014 U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team (@usskiteam) March 14, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
“It’s special because I really never thought I could be in this position this season already in super-G,” Shiffrin said to The Associated Press. \u201c\u2026 The way that everybody came together and made this work was just amazing. We are all so proud and everybody feels some ownership of this. \u2026 I’ve dreamed about someday, maybe, being able to win a globe in super-G but I really wasn’t expecting it this season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes, Shiffrin best known for her technical skills in the slalom and giant slalom has branched out into speed (downhill and super-G) during the last two seasons, winning a downhill in Lake Louise on Dec. 2, 2017, and completing the cycle of World Cup wins with a super-G triumph (Dec. 2, 2018) in Alberta to start the 2018-19 season, but no one thought she would ascend to this status this quickly.<\/p>\n
While she did win the FIS Alpine World Ski Championship in super-G<\/a> last month in Are, Sweden \u2014 worlds do not count toward World Cup points \u2014 she made it clear throughout the season that winning the speed discipline\u2019s season title<\/a> wasn\u2019t necessarily a goal for the campaign.<\/p>\n
Having felt that she overextended herself last season in the run up to the 2018 Olympics and initially attempting to compete in all five events (downhill, super-G, combined, giant slalom and slalom), Shiffrin was committed to keeping a schedule that kept her at her best physical and mental levels throughout the grinding season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did think about it for a split second and then I tried to reel my brain back down to earth,\u201d she said of altering her schedule to add more super-G races in a conference call with reporters on Jan. 24. \u201cThe super-G title was not one of the goals that I had set for this season, and I try to be really careful about not overshooting or changing my plans like crazy in the middle of the season. That might sound kind of stubborn because for sure I\u2019m in an amazing spot in super-G right now, but I think it would add one too many things to the plate and could potentially kind of ruin all of my other goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, she might have gotten a break with the schedule as weather wiped out a pair of super-G races two weeks ago in Russia leaving her remaining atop the super-G standings.<\/p>\n
This story will be updated.<\/p>\n