The World’s best technical ski racers from 19 different nations had a chance to compete on the technical and steep slope in Aspen for the second straight day. Like Saturday, there was perfect weather and snow conditions and again Mikaela Shiffrin dominated her competition.
Aiming for a career slalom win No. 16 and going into the second run with a 1.69 second advantage, the Olympic and World champion had a little bobble in top section of the course but finished strong to clock a combined time of 1:40.18, to lead Sweden's Hansdotter by 2.65 seconds. Czech Republic's Sarka Strachova sat in third, 2.90 seconds out.
“I just tried to do a replay of yesterday,” said Shiffrin. “I was like 'forget that yesterday happened and just do the exact same'. I just did the same thing and it worked, so that is good.”
“Sometimes I am surprised at the times but I think that's how I am skiing,” she added. “Probably there were some things that were tricky for the other girls these past few days. So I think their level is probably higher than what they showed. That is kind of a typical training run for me. So I was really excited about how the last two days went because I put my dream skiing in the races. I was really attacking.”
Third after the first run, Frida Hansdotter put in a strong second run to make up some time and take the runner-up spot for the 13th time of her career.
“To have two podiums here is for sure a really good start to the slalom season,” commented the Swede. “I really like it here, it is a very challenging hill, with the terrain and also the snow. The snow conditions change from top to bottom. It is drier in the lower section.”
Sarka Strachova confirmed she was comfortable on that slope after her two career World Cup slalom victories at the Colorado resort in 2008 and 2009.
“This podium is really important for me because it's at the beginning of the season and it gives me confidence for the next races,” said Strachova. “I am usually quite nervous before the season's start and now I can build on this result.”
“The snow was very aggressive these two days and it was really difficult to find the right set up,” she commented about the snow.
The ladies' World Cup tour will now shift to Lake Louise, Canada for the start of the speed season with two training runs scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday before two downhill races and a super-G on Sunday that will see winner of day Mikaela Shiffrin make her debut in speed races.
Source: fis-ski.com
