KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia \u2014 Mikaela Shiffrin clinched the World Cup overall title for the third straight year in “strange” circumstances after snowstorms prevented the women’s super-G race in Sochi from going ahead on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old American skier \u2014 who had opted not to race this weekend and is training in Italy \u2014 has a 719-point lead over second-placed Petra Vlhova with a maximum of 700 points now remaining this season.<\/p>\n
“It’s quite strange because I am sitting here right now on my bed,” Shiffrin said in a video posted to Twitter. “I could go jump around and do a little happy dance and that. I feel like nobody really needs to see that. It’s just, it’s pretty crazy.”<\/p>\n
Shiffrin has dominated the season with a career-high 14 wins from the 29 races this World Cup season, branching out from her usual technical specialty to take three World Cup wins in the super-G. On top of that, Shiffrin added world championship gold medals in the slalom and super-G last month to emphasize a bright future for the U.S. in women’s skiing despite the retirement of Lindsey Vonn.<\/p>\n
“This year it’s even something more special because a fair portion of my wins have come in super-G,” Shiffrin said. “I always felt like I wanted to be able to earn it in all events. I’m working on getting to the point where I can earn it in slalom, (giant slalom), super-G and downhill, but I felt like this season was a really big step.”<\/p>\n
Shiffrin was already assured of winning the title in Sochi since neither she nor technical race specialist Vlhova, who was Shiffrin’s only remaining title rival, are competing here.<\/p>\n
Shiffrin has suggested the high travel costs for Sochi discouraged her. Instead, she’s training in Italy ahead of next week’s races at the Czech resort of Spindleruv Mlyn.<\/p>\n
More women’s races cancelled in Sochi<\/p>\n
Snowstorms and strong winds have played havoc with the first World Cup events in Sochi since the 2014 Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n
Saturday was originally meant for a downhill race, but that was canceled after it proved impossible to hold any of the three planned training sessions. When that opened up a slot in the calendar, organizers tried to add a second super-G rescheduled from St. Anton in January, but the weather made that impossible.<\/p>\n
Governing body FIS has said the downhill and extra super-G “will definitely not be rescheduled.”<\/p>\n
The women’s World Cup super-G race in Sochi planned for Sunday has been cancelled after a week-long struggle with adverse weather.<\/p>\n
Days of heavy snow and strong winds have prevented any racing at the first World Cup event since 2012 on the Rosa Khutor course used for the 2014 Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n
Sunday’s cancellation helps Mikaela Shiffrin’s chances of winning the super-G trophy, which she leads by 32 points from Liechtenstein’s Tina Weirather with one race remaining.<\/p>\n