Industry News
The FIS speed weekend in St Moritz, Switzerland, from December 16-18, 2022, consisted of two Downhill events on Friday and Saturday and one Super-G on Sunday. The Downhill was dominated by the Italians, with Italy’s Elena Curtoni winning on Friday and Sofia Goggia from Italy winning on Saturday. The winner on Sunday however was no Italian, but Team USA’s Mikaela Shiffrin.
Second place on Sunday went to Italy’s Elena Curtoni, the winner from Friday, and third place to France’s Romane Miradoli, marking her second career podium. Breezy Johnson came 34th, Keely Cashman 40th, and Lauren Macuga 41st. Isabella Wright and Tricia Mangan both received DNFs for missing gates on this very technical Super-G course. A total of 17 skiers — almost a third of the field — did not finish the course on Sunday, the vast majority due to missing gates.
The St. Moritz Super-G course is known for its technical difficulty, which suits Shiffrin. It is one of her favorite events on the Alpine World Cup Circuit and she has podiumed in St. Moritz a total of five times in the past, winning Gold in Super-G in 2018 on the Swiss race course as well.
Sunday’s Super-G win is Mikaela’s third FIS Alpine World Cup victory for the 22/23 season and her 77th World Cup career podium, putting her within arm’s reach of beating Lindsey Vonn’s career record of 82 World Cup victories. It is only Shiffrin’s fifth Super-G victory, as she is usually stronger in the technical events, Giant-Slalom and Slalom.
“I love speed, it’s so exhilarating”, Shiffrin said in an interview after the race, “When I ski well then I come in the finish and I’m smiling every time, before I even see how I did. It’s just so much fun. For me it’s not a mental break, but a reset kind of. It’s challenging in a different way than the tech-events. I really get some energy from it.”
Shiffrin demonstrated her skiing prowess not only on Sunday but also during Friday and Saturday’s Downhill events, where she placed sixth and fourth respectively. While not winning podium places, the high rankings contribute to the skier’s overall Alpine World Cup Standings. Mikaela Shiffrin is now well ahead in overall points from the rest of the field, leading with 575 points, 105 points ahead of Sofia Goggia. The majority of points have come from Slalom events and she is currently tied for the small crystal globe for slalom with Wendy Holdener of Switzerland.
Shiffrin said she is planning to spend Christmas in Austria and is hoping to be able to spend some time with her partner Aleksander Aamodt Kilde before the World Cup circuit resumes. The next event on the World Cup circuit will be a double Giant-Slalom and Slalom event in Semmering from December 27-29, which replaces the canceled races from Sölden, Austria, earlier in the year, which could not take place due to poor visibility.
