Mayer Wins Lake Louise DH, Shiffrin Wins 5th Consecutive Killington Slalom
The Austrian men’s speed team started the season on the right note, going 1-2 in the Audis FIS men’s World Cup Lake Louise downhill. Mayer is the first Austrian man to claim six successive top-three finishes in World Cup downhill races since Stephan Eberharter, who set a run of eight in 2003-2004. With clouds moving in, Mayer and Kriechmayr benefited from early start numbers.
Matthias Mayer and Vincent Kreichemayr were the heroes of the day, with Mayer topping his teammate by 0.23 seconds. Third place went to four-time defending downhill globe winner Beat Feuz, 0.35 off the winning pace.
Mayer said. “It was brutally challenging. Visibility was poor, but it was the same for everyone....Vinc and Beat had a great race, but I had a start and I knew it would be good. At the same time, I know that the distance was so small that I have to be very careful in other races,”
“In terms of visibility, I may have had better conditions with starting number one, but I still didn’t see much,” Kriechmayr added. “Matthias won deservedly, he drove 100 percent all the time. I drove to 99 because I chose a safer track in two places,”
Mayer has enjoyed success on in Lake Louise, regularly finishing in the top-10 and most recently enjoying the victory in the last super-G at the venue in 2019.
It was an elite podium today with all of the top-three being multiple Olympic, World Champion or World Cup winners. The season opener couldn't ask for more.
Last year the races were cancelled in Lake Louise, and all of North America, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but this season it was all systems go. Most of the top speed athletes had the opportunity to have training camps in North America for a few weeks prior to this weekend’s races in Canada.
Despite all the preparations, the racers had to have patience to finally earn World Cup points as yesterday’s debut downhill for the 2021-22 season was cancelled due to heavy snowfall. But today, everything was in good condition for the athletes to make their debut in the Olympic season.
In his first race back from injury, Ryan Cochran-Siegle led the charge for the American men, grabbing his first top-10 finish of the season in tenth.
Cochran-Siegle, who underwent neck surgery after a hard crash on the Hannenkahm in Kitzbuehel, Austria early on 2021, skied a smooth top half of the course, coming into the notorious C-Turn carrying plenty of speed. Unfortunately, Cochran-Siegle felt he lost a little bit of intensity on the last left-footed turn before the flatter section of course, where he scrubbed just a tad more around Claire's Corner, taking him out of contention for a higher spot in the ranks. Either way, coming off of a serious downhill injury, Cochran-Siegle was satisfied with how he handled the course.
"I'm looking to the positives and addressing what the difference was between my 10th place, which I'm pleased with, and where I was at earlier in the week," reported Cochran-Siegle after the race. "I definitely could have fought for a much better position. But it's a good start, especially in downhill for me. This is my best start to the season in downhill, but we all know we're more capable, not just myself but Bryce, Travis, Steven, all of us... I'll be trying to bring intensity tomorrow and obviously Beaver Creek."
Bryce Bennett and Travis Ganong also snagged top-30 finishes, tying for 25th overall. Steven Nyman and Erik Arvidsson finished 35th, and 37th respectively, followed by Sam Morse in 41st. Jared Goldberg had a short run, skidding out in the top section of the course and losing a ski.
"For myself, it's an okay day, but I think for the U.S., probably a little disappointing," explained Cochran-Siegle. "We don't want to be contending for 10th or 25th or whatever it is. We want to be winning and fighting for those top spots. There's still work to do, and the first race is always a little funky. So we gotta focus on what we can control and what we can bring to the table next time so we're more competitive."
In yet another exciting battle between Mikaela Shiffrin and Slovakia's Petra Vlhova, Shiffrin has once again been crowned the Queen of Killington, winning her fifth consecutive slalom race on home soil in Vermont.
Shiffrin came out in her second run guns a-blazin' to close the gap between her and her closest rival, who led the field by two-tenths after the first run. Thanks to an aggressive push, and an agile recovery in the mid-section of the course, Shiffrin was able to best Vlhova by 0.75 seconds, after Vlhova made a significant mistake second run. Switzerland's Wendy Holdener rounded out the podium in third.
"I hope everyone enjoyed watching (the race) because that's the most show that we have," Shiffrin commented on her battle with Vlhova. "It takes someone who is not only able to do the work and to ski that way, but really does it, and takes care of the fine details. She and her team, they have what they need and they're pushing the limits, and we're trying to do the same...every race is an enormous test and it's very nerve-racking as well."
With her 71st World Cup victory and 46th World Cup slalom victory, Shiffrin has officially tied with the legendary Swede Ingemar Stenmark's 32-year-old record for wins in a single discipline. A thrilling conclusion to a highly anticipated weekend back at the Homelight Killington World Cup—a venue and a race, that has always meant so much to Shiffrin over the course of her career. Emotions were high after securing the slalom win, with Shiffrin feeling the love from a rambunctious crowd of American fans, as well as from missed loved ones on high.
"Getting to the finish knowing I put everything I could into it, that's always a special feeling," reflected Shiffrin. "I've had a lot of incredible memories at this race over the years, and I've shared it with family and all the people I love, the people who I love the most in the world. And this year, two of them are not here anymore. So it's emotional, it's one of the more emotional ones for sure."
Paula Moltzan also had an excellent showing in Killington, coming into the second run full steam ahead and holding on to her position in the top 10, finishing seventh overall.
As an alumnus of the University of Vermont Catamounts, Moltzan's performance was well celebrated by a large showing of friends and family who traveled far and wide to cheer her on at her collegiate stomping grounds. For Moltzan, having her support system on the ground while she made her first big push of the season towards achieving her Olympic childhood dream was incredibly meaningful.
"I literally have 20 people here that I'm blood-related to, and my entire fiancee's family too," said Moltzan. "I've dreamed of going to the Olympics my whole life and today was maybe the first punch in my ticket, so I'm hoping I can keep building off of this so I can build steam into the Olympics this year.
Fellow American competitors Nina O'Brien, Katie Hensien, AJ Hurt completed their first run, but did not qualify for the second run of slalom. Allie Resnick, who was starting in her inaugural slalom World Cup, also started but did not qualify for the second run. Resnick's best friend and fellow Dartmouth peer Zoe Zimmermann also started in just her second World Cup, but did not finish the first run.
The North American action continues next week, with the men's team competing in two downhills, and two super-G's in Beaver Creek through December 1-4. The women will head north to compete in speed in Lake Louise, Canada.
