Rebensburg Two-For-Two With Killington Win

Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg maintained her perfect record in giant slalom for the 2017/18 season with a second consecutive victory, following up her Soelden win with one at the Killington World Cup in the U.S. She charged hard in the second run to distance herself from her closest challenger, American Mikaela Shiffrin, who finished in second place at 0.67 seconds off the lead. Manuela Moelgg of Italy also matched her Soelden performance, finishing in third in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 18,000 spectators.

Rebensburg held a slimmer lead over Shiffrin after the first run as dark clouds rolled in and a light rain started to fall. The German surprised even herself on the second run by battling to the finish line for the 15th World Cup win of her career. Shiffrin was able to appease the crowd with an impressive run of her own, landing solidly in second for the day. Moelgg was once again thrilled to make a podium appearance.

“This is definitely a step in the right direction after Soelden,” said Shiffrin, who finished fifth at the season-opening giant slalom last month in Austria. “I felt a lot more confident with my skiing today and I’m excited to keep that going. It was a sweet race today, it was really fun to ski.”

In front of a record-breaking crowd of more than 18,000 screaming fan at Killington – which eclipsed the previous record of 16,000 set last year at Killington – Shiffrin drilled her first run, leaving just a 0.26-second margin to first-run leader Rebensburg, winner of the season-opener in Soelden.

With a thundering crowd, overcast skies and light precipitation moving in for the second run, Shiffrin took a few risks to maintain her podium position.

“I felt like I had a couple little bobbles where I felt myself losing time,” she said. “But I also took a little bit of extra risk where I may have gained some time. It wasn’t like one of my flawless training runs where I felt like: ‘Oh my gosh it’s the fastest that course could be skied.’ But it was definitely one of my best race runs.”

With her second-place finish, Shiffrin maintained her overall World Cup lead by five points over Rebensburg heading into Sunday’s slalom, the second run of which will be broadcast LIVE on NBC at 1:00 p.m. EST.

“The mentality I had today is the same mentality I need to have tomorrow in order to bring out some of my better skiing,” Shiffrin said heading into Sunday’s slalom. “It’s a new day, a new race and new competition. And I’m excited to go for it!”

The ladies contest a slalom at Killington on Sunday with the first run starting at 10:00 ET and the second run at 13:00.