ASPEN, CO (Nov. 29) - Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, CO) skied a gutsy second run to salvage a remarkable sixth place finish in the Nature Valley Aspen Winternational. A first-run mistake nearly earned Shiffrin an early exit, but she powered through to stay in contention. Despite being 2.23 seconds out, Shiffrin skied fifth fastest in the second run, winning the bottom. Austria's Eva-Maria Brem won over teammate Kathrin Zettel. Italy's Federica Brignone was third. The women race slalom on Sunday with live coverage of the second run on NBC at 3:00 p.m. EST.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Saddled with a huge mistake in the first run that left her over two seconds out, Mikaela Shiffrin came from behind to finish sixth in the Nature Valley Aspen Winternational giant slalom.
- Austria's Eva-Maria Brem took the win and the Audi FIS World Cup GS lead with a .59 second margin over teammate Kathrin Zettel, who overtook Shiffrin for the overall lead.
- In the first run, Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley, CA) went out, while Megan McJames (Park City, UT) and Anna Marn (Steamboat Springs, CO) failed to qualify for the second run.
- The women are back Sunday for a slalom featuring live coverage of the second run on NBC beginning at 3:00 p.m. EST with live stream on NBC Live Extra.
QUOTES
Mikaela Shiffrin
It seemed like an insurmountable gap. But as I keep improving my skiing and building my confidence, I might be able to make up a gap like that someway. I felt like I did a great job attacking in the second run and it was a step in the right direction.
It was so cool to be here in Aspen. You could hear the fans at the start and it kind of got me psyched up.
I”m actually pretty psyched with my day. I don’t tend to make mistakes - ever. For me to attack hard enough to make a mistake is almost a breakthrough. It’s just fought that it cost me a lot of time today, but it was a learning experience.
Patrick Riml, U.S. Ski Team Alpine Director
Besides for the mistake on the flats first run, Mikaela had a very solid day today and skied pretty well. Another good GS performance from her! Julia was charging, and unfortunately was not able to finish – but shows good technical skiing.
RESULTS
Official results
