Mikaela Shiffrin races away from rival Petra Vlhova, wins general World Cup title

COURCHEVEL, France — Mikaela Shiffrin gained snowboarding’s general World Cup title for the fourth time Thursday, fueled by pace races that turned her anticipated duel with Petra Vlhová right into a runaway success.

Shiffrin completed second within the super-G on the World Cup finals — sooner or later after a surprise victory in downhill — to place extra stress on Vlhová for the general title.

The Slovakian skier needed to end no worse than seventh to cease Shiffrin from extending her lead within the standings past 200 factors with solely their specialty slalom and large slalom races left over the weekend.

The defending champion completed 17th, outdoors the highest 15 scoring locations, to path Shiffrin by 236 factors.

Shiffrin sat within the snow watching her rival’s run, shielding her eyes behind sun shades, and smiled in her second of victory. Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway gained the race and was the primary to greet Shiffrin with an extended hug.

Shiffrin’s boyfriend, Norwegian skier Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, was on the high of the slope making ready to race within the males’s super-G. He’s the champion in that self-discipline.

Shiffrin earned her fourth large crystal globe trophy after successful three straight general titles from 2017 to 2019 and one month after struggling on the Beijing Olympics.

American skier Lindsey Vonn additionally gained 4 general titles in her profession, trailing behind solely Austrian nice Annemarie Moser-Pröll’s six titles within the 1970s.

Within the super-G, Shiffrin completed 0.05 seconds behind Mowinckel. Michelle Gisin of Switzerland was third, 0.13 behind.

The season-long super-G title had already been secured by Federica Brignone of Italy, who positioned 19th on Thursday.

Olympic champion Lara Intestine-Behrami missed a gate and didn’t end.

After enduring one of many hardest months of her profession on the Olympics, successful no medals in six occasions, Shiffrin rested and skilled for what proved to be a standout March.

Shiffrin and Vlhová began the month tied within the standings with eight races left — 5 of their favored technical disciplines and three in pace, which each have historically raced solely selectively.

These pace races proved decisive. Shiffrin was runner-up in a super-G in Switzerland after which opened the World Cup Finals on Wednesday along with her third profession victory in downhill.

In those self same pace races, Vlhová posted outcomes of 18th, 16th and 17th. She additionally competed in back-to-back downhills on Feb. 26-27 that Shiffrin skipped.

The remainder paid off for Shiffrin. Vlhová positioned 16th and 29th in these races to tie the American within the standings as a substitute of taking an anticipated lead.