Alpine skiing: Shiffrin reaches the Stenmark record in Aare

“Ari is one of my favorite places in the World Cup,” Shiffrin said, filled with anticipation. If the American can pull off the double in Sweden, she will overtake Stenmark even before her 28th birthday on March 13. “She’s a lot better than I was. I think she can win more than 100 (races, note),” said the now 66-year-old technical expert, who set his best time in 1989.

But even apart from Stenmark’s record, there is still something for Shiffrin to win at the end of a grueling season in Aare: Before the penultimate race of the season, the 85-time World Cup winner leads the giant slalom standings by 118 points. Swiss Lara Gut Bahrami. If Shiffrin, who has won the last three giant slalom races at the World Cup, wins the discipline standings, it will be her 14th ball of the season and her 13th. Shiffrin has already won the Slalom World Cup this season – for the seventh time in total.

The fact that Aare is such a special place for Shiffrin is also due to the fact that she celebrated her first World Cup victory there. The 17-year-old won the slalom event on December 20, 2012, ahead of Sweden’s Frida Hansdotter and Slovenian Tina Maze. Since then, Shiffrin has racked up three more World Cup victories and two World Championship gold medals in 2019.

Hoping for a happy ending

But Katharina Linsberger was able to win the last slalom. However, it is unlikely that the woman from Vorarlberg will be able to win again in Sweden this year, since this season was very disappointing for Linsberger. The 25-year-old is yet to reach the podium.

Overall, the Austrian technicians are still interested in a conciliatory end to a messy season: In nine slalom races and eight giant sprints, Katarina Tropp managed one ÖSV lady podium finish in the Killington slalom (November). Looking further, there are a total of nine top ten finishes in 17 races.

Four of them can be attributed to Franziska Gretsch, who finished third in Kvitfjell-Super-G after an attractive world championship. “I was so happy, it was really relaxing. However, giant slalom is a different field, and I have to take my seven things with me.” “I’m interested in seeing where I stand in giant slalom when two runs meet with really fast turns. Two fast runs, that’s definitely the goal of the races to come.”

“I know I’m fast”

Elisabeth Kapauerer confidently traveled to Ari two second places in the European Cup (Gullivar / Sweden). “I know I’m fast. I can drive and I know everything is going right – and that feels good.” Since the woman from Vorarlberg is 25th in the World Cup rankings, she’s currently in the ejection seat with Stephanie Brunner (to name a few) When it comes to qualifying for the season finale at Soldeu.

“I hope I can join the bandwagon,” said Kapauerer. There are currently up to seven ÖSV competitors in Andorra in giant slalom. In addition to Capauer and Brunner, Julia Schepp (23) and Ramona Siebenhofer (24) also have to shiver.