SEMMERING, Austria (Dec. 29) - Teen Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, CO), fourth after the opening run, was charging for back-to-back Audi FIS Alpine World Cup slalom wins, when she got stuck leaning back, hooked an edge, hiked and eventually straddled in the night final. The door was then wide open for veteran Veronika Velez Zuzulova of Slovakia to snag the first victory of her 12 year World Cup career. Austrian Kathrin Zettel produced a blazing final run to finish second ahead of overall and now slalom leader Tina Maze of Slovenia. Resi Stiegler (Jackson Hole, WY) finished in the points for the second straight race with 26th.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, CO) was charging for the win when she hooked an edge and eventually straddled a gate in the Semmering night slalom final.
- Fourth after the first run, Shiffrin dropped to fourth in the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup slalom standings, a mere 34 points behind Slovenia's Tina Maze in the hotly contested discilpine title chase.
- Twelve year veteran Veronika Velez Zuzolova won race for the first World Cup win of her career and also the first for Slovakia.
- Maze finished third and has now amassed a massive 1059 overall points before the start of 2013. German Maria Hoefl-Riesch is second, a distant 427 behind the Slovenian.
- The World Cup tour resumes New Years Day with a men's and women's parallel slalom city event in Munich, Germany. Slalom and overall points will be awarded.
QUOTES
Roland Pfeifer, Technical Head Coach
It was unexpected that she [Shiffrin] would be in the backseat when exiting a flush. She usually doesn’t do it. It happens. She has a little cold, so now she needs to calm down a little bit and get healthy again.
I am actually pretty happy with Resi, she is progressing in a big way. The first run today was just awesome. Second run, she had a little problem with being in the backseat; so a couple of days of training and she’s going to be more solid and consistent.
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