Shiffrin edged out of gold in giant slalom | Klamath

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Even when it wasn’t gold, Mikaela Shiffrin’s thirteenth medal at a serious championship felt totally different from all her earlier ones.

For the primary time in a technical race, she had an American teammate subsequent to her competing for victory.

Shiffrin and Nina O’Brien had the 2 quickest instances within the opening run of the ladies’s large slalom on the world championships on Thursday.

Earlier than the second run, they stood shut on the hill inspecting the course. Shared a carry experience up the hill. And exchanged type phrases earlier than snowboarding down, one after the opposite.

It felt like an extraordinary coaching session, reasonably than the decisive run for gold.

Whereas O’Brien dropped to tenth, Shiffrin earned a silver medal behind Swiss winner Lara Intestine-Behrami to offer her one in all every shade at these worlds — and along with her finest occasion, slalom, nonetheless to come back.

In whole, Shiffrin now has 10 profession world championship medals to go together with three Olympic ones.

“I’ve by no means been on this place to have a look at my teammate once we’re each happening battling for a medal,” Shiffrin mentioned. “The final two racers with an opportunity for a medal is at all times a particular feeling however having your teammate there, it feels totally different. It’s actually cool.”

For the U.S. ski crew this was a primary — however not a fluke.

In slalom and GS, it was all about Shiffrin for a few years. However the entire tech crew is having a breakout season on the World Cup circuit, with a number of private bests for O’Brien, AJ Damage, and Paula Moltzan, who even had her first profession podium in Austria in November.

“I believe it’s actually cool and we’re fortunate to have Mikaela as our teammate for main the cost and galvanizing us all,” O’Brien mentioned. “But it surely’s additionally enjoyable to see that this subsequent group of us can usher in some velocity as nicely.”

Whereas Shiffrin works along with her personal teaching workers, the crew trains collectively when schedules permit.

“It’s at all times tremendous productive and useful coaching along with her, simply watching her and speaking along with her about snowboarding,” O’Brien mentioned. “She’s bought a reasonably insane understanding of the game, like nobody else I do know.”

Shiffrin’s assist went past shared coaching at a World Cup GS in Austria final season, when she was fastest in the first run and took the lift back up the hill to support late starter O’Brien.

Shiffrin briefly skilled the sensation of going head-to-head with a teammate for gold on the worlds two years in the past, when she and Lindsey Vonn aimed for the super-G victory.

Whereas Vonn crashed within the penultimate race of her profession, Shiffrin claimed the gold.

The rising power of the tech crew pleases Shiffrin.

“They’ve simply an incredible perspective, it’s a very nice ambiance now,” she mentioned. “It simply looks like we could be blissful for one another, push one another, and it’s simple. There isn’t any drama, it’s simply racing and snowboarding.”

Former teammate Sarah Schleper, who retired in 2011 however returned to the slopes and competes for Mexico on the worlds, hailed the affect of Shiffrin on the crew.

“The U.S. crew is again on observe for achievement and I believe Mikaela has so much to do with it,” Schleper mentioned. “It conjures up all of our children again house, which is nice. They simply see it’s a chance to make it right here and compete with the Europeans and be aggressive.”

Approaching her finest profession consequence, O’Brien overcame a scare in between runs when her skis initially failed the usual tools take a look at by organizers.

The Worldwide Ski Federation checks ski measurement and setup after every run based mostly on strict guidelines. Racers whose skis don’t meet the standards are disqualified.

There was a problem with the plate within the binding on one in all O’Brien’s skis, which exceeded the allowed peak by a mere 0.1 millimeters after a screw bought unfastened.

Finally, O’Brien was cleared to begin within the closing run.

“That was somewhat little bit of drama,” she mentioned.

After going her total profession with no main championship title, Intestine-Behrami added a second gold medal to her burgeoning assortment from this yr’s worlds.

The Swiss skier made up her deficit to Shiffrin with a blistering closing leg to beat the American by two-hundredths of a second.

“GS has at all times been so essential for me in my total profession,” the Swiss skier mentioned. “I at all times knew that if I’m snowboarding nicely in GS then it’s straightforward to be quick even within the different disciplines.”

Katharina Liensberger of Austria was 0.09 behind in third in what was the closest end ever of a ladies’s large slalom on the worlds.

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AP Sports activities Author Andrew Dampf contributed

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Extra AP snowboarding: https://apnews.com/hub/skiing and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports activities

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