Ski racer Lena Dürr finally entered the group of contenders for an Olympic medal in Mikaela Shiffrin’s record victory.
Less than a month before the Winter Games in Beijing, the 30-year-old in good form finished third in the night slalom in Schladming, thus equalizing the best result of her career in this discipline. With her 47th slalom success, the American Shiffrin set a record for most World Cup victories in a discipline.
When her victory was certain, the two-time Olympic champion was close to tears. “I’ve been crying a lot lately,” said Shiffrin: “It’s such a privilege to ski on this track. I really wanted to earn my victory today.”
So far, she had shared the record with two-time Olympic champion Ingemar Stenmark (Sweden), who won the giant slalom 46 times. Shiffrin’s worst rival Petra Vlhova (+0.15) finished second with an early victory in the Discipline World Cup. The Slovakian had previously won five out of six races.
Dürr (+0.93) finished third in Levi, like twice in November, and thus raised hopes for a medal in Beijing. “I’m not even thinking about that at the moment. But it is within reach and more realistic than four years ago,” she said: “I just enjoy skiing right now.” After the first run she was still about half a second behind the leading Vlhova, in the second run Shiffrin’s furious catch-up followed.
The only 18-year-old Emma Aicher, who had fulfilled the second part of the DOSB norm for the Winter Games (February 4th to 20th) on Sunday, missed the best World Cup result of her young career after a strong first run. In tenth place at halftime, she threaded through the second run and was eliminated. Just like Dürr, Aicher had already qualified for the Winter Games (February 4 to 20).
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