By Canadian Press

Shiffrin has rare fall as Rebensburg wins giant slalom

Jan 23, 2018 | 5:50 AM

SAN VIGILIO DI MAREBBE, Italy — Overall World Cup leader Mikaela Shiffrin had an uncharacteristic fall in the first run, clearing the way for Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany to claim her third giant slalom win of the season Tuesday.

Sitting third after the opening leg, Rebensburg had the fastest second run to finish 0.03 seconds ahead of first-run leader Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway.

Mowinckel was 0.21 ahead of Rebensburg at the final checkpoint but lost speed through the final gates. Still, it was the Norwegian’s best career result and she celebrated as if she had won.

Defending champion Federica Brignone of Italy finished third, 0.66 behind, amid perfect conditions at the Kronplatz resort.

Toronto’s Candace Crawford did not qualify for the second run. Ottawa native Valerie Grenier did not finish the first run.

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Shiffrin lost control of her inside ski coming around a turn as she entered the steepest section of a slope named Erta, which translates as steep. With a gradient of 61 per cent in that section, Shiffrin slid a long way down the course but immediately got up and was not injured.

“I got on my inside ski going over that breakover and it was the one turn that I knew like, ‘Have some direction, it gets really steep after this. It’s a short breakover. And you just want to make sure you’re on point on this turn,’” Shiffrin told The Associated Press. “And I was going into it really aggressive but fine.

“It happens,” Shiffrin said. “One of the things I’ve been working on the most is putting the pressure on my outside ski so I don’t boot out like I did.”

After missing a gate on Sunday in a super-G in Cortina d’Ampezzo, it marked the first time in more than six years that Shiffrin failed to finish two consecutive races. The last time came in back-to-back slaloms in Courchevel, France, and Flachau, Austria, in December 2011 — before the American registered her first World Cup podium.

It was the 16th career World Cup win for Rebensburg, who also won the giant slalom at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Rebensburg’s other wins this season came in the season opener in Soelden, Austria, in October and then in Killington, Vermont, in November. She had been battling the flu recently and sat out competition the past two weekends.

Marta Bassino of Italy finished fourth and Sara Hector of Sweden was fifth.

Shiffrin still holds a massive 843-point lead over Rebensburg in the overall standings. In the GS rankings, Rebensburg moved 37 points ahead of Shiffrin.

“That’s how it goes when you’re pushing the limits,” Shiffrin said. “I’ve been exploring that mentality of pushing my limit. I like to step in the race course to know that my skiing is good enough that I could ski at 90 per cent but it’s more fun when I’m really hammering.

“And with GS there’s a lot of really awesome competition,” Shiffrin added. “When I watch these girls I know they’re not holding back.”

Shiffrin had been undefeated this year in the technical disciplines of GS, slalom and parallel slalom with five straight wins.

She has two more technical races in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, next weekend before she travels to South Korea for the Pyeonghchang Olympics.

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This story has been corrected to show that Shiffrin has failed to finish two consecutive races before.

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More AP Olympic coverage: https://wintergames.ap.org

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Andrew Dampf on Twitter: www.twitter.com/asdampf

Andrew Dampf, The Associated Press