JASNA, Slovakia – Mikaela Shiffrin on Sunday slammed Slovakia’s race organizers after the women’s World Cup giant slalom, which they felt was called “unprofessional” for waiting at the start gate before their final race. .
Gaining a slim lead from the opening leg, Shiffrin was ready to start when he had to wait for two minutes, while of course the workers replaced a broken gate.
Finally allowed to go, the American posted only the 11th fastest time and fell below 0.37, behind the winner, Petra Valhova of Slovakia.
“It takes two minutes to fix a gate, it should take 30 seconds,” Shiffrin said. “I just felt like he’s a good skier to win these races on his own and he doesn’t need such irresponsible action, which he doesn’t control, I don’t control, but just say For, ‘Oh, he is the chief, let’s see if we (Shiffrin’s) can do something to get in the head.’ ‘
While Shiffrin acknowledged that interruptions are a normal part of the game, he said that long delays were not necessary at this time.
“It’s one thing if an athlete falls and gets injured, but it’s another thing when it’s fixing a gate and it takes (two) minutes with two people and they can’t find the flag, Or I don’t know what was happening, “American said.
“It was a bit ridiculous and it’s really obvious,” she said. “It’s not a professional way to handle this situation (…) even takes away from her performance. She can be proud of how she skied but it’s a difficult situation.”
Shiffrin also admitted that he should “handle these situations better” after the delayed start.
“I was fine, I was just going crazy, this is something I can learn from,” he said. “I still did a great job on most of my runs but not quite well right now.”
Beating his opponent, Vlhova twisted Shiffrin’s table a day later when the American beat him in a slalom.
Valhova fell on her back in celebration as soon as first-half leader Shifrin failed to defeat her time.
Vlhova woke up as she shed tears after her career’s 19th win, but for the first time in a home run up the hill where she trains regularly.
“This is somewhat surprising because everyone who is watching our game knows that the final race in the giant slalom I was not in good shape. I had (a) small crisis, ”said Valhova.
Valhova finished 10th and 12th in the last two giant slams on the World Cup and 12th in the World Championships last month.
“But I trained a lot. When I came to my house, I tried to keep a lot of power inside me, ”he said. “Finally, on the slope of my house, I won. This was my dream. “
Shifrin had denied Valhova to a home win in the slalom on Saturday when she came out to beat her Slovakia rival in the final.
Jasna is not a regular stop at the Women’s World Cup circuit. The last time the race was held was in the Low Tatra Mountains in 2016, when Shiffrin also won the slalom.
On Sunday, New Zealand’s Alice Robinson climbed from seventh place to runner-up, 0.16.
Marta Bassino, who won four huge slams this season, closed out the discipline title with a race to win the additional title.
The Italian placed fourth of his remaining challengers, France’s Tessa Worley, to finish 10th.
This result gave Bassino a 148-point lead in the World Cup final in Switzerland with only GS at the end of the season.
In 1997 Deborah Compagnoni became the fourth Italian skier to win the Bassino GS Globe after Denis Karbonne in 2008 and Federica Brigon the previous year.
World champion Lara Gut-Beharmey was out of contention for a costly mistake victory at the start of her first run and trailed the ninth-ranked Swiss skier 1.69.
In the overall stance, Valhova closed the gap of 36 points over leader Gut-Behrami, two slalom in Sweden come on Friday and Saturday.
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