COURCHEVEL, France (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin increased her lead over Petra Vlhová in a thrilling race for the overall title by winning the downhill race at Wednesday’s World Cup final.
Shiffrin had barely raced downhill this season — two World Cup events in December and then last month’s Olympics in Beijing. Her best result was 18th.
The American put in a clean run on the new Eclipse course to take the win and 100 World Cup points. Vlhová finished 16th among the scorers.
After seeing her time in the finish area, Shiffrin put her right hand over her mouth in disbelief. Her 74th career win in the World Cup was only her third in downhill.
Shiffrin’s friend, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, looked close and punched the air with both fists before greeting her with a hug and kiss.
Shiffrin is looking for a fourth overall title in his career. She now leads Vlhová by 156 points with only three races left this week.
She will prefer to fill her lead on Thursday – and perhaps even secure the overall title – when the other speed discipline, the super-G, is raced.
“Well done! Have a good day,” Kilde told Shiffrin shortly after taking the Downhill World Cup season title by finishing fourth in the men’s race.
Despite her 12th place, the women’s title went to Sofia Goggia. Goggia’s closest rival, Olympic champion Corinne Suter, finished only 19th. It was the Italian’s third downhill trophy.
The course seemed to suit Shiffrin. It used the flatter, more technical lower sections of the Eclipse Hill than the longer course ridden by the men, which proved to be a well-balanced race with few sections to find extra speed or make mistakes.
Shiffrin did just enough to finish 0.10 seconds faster than Christine Scheyer and Joana Haehlen, who tied for second. Even Lara Gut-Behrami in fifth place was just 0.16 seconds behind.
Vlhová was only 0.78 slower than Shiffrin on the 2.3 kilometer course, but that kept her out of the points. Only the top 15 finishers score at the World Cup Finals.
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