Mikaela Shiffrin just misses GS crown: Gut-Behrami wins

MIkaela Shiffrin raced magnificently, but came up short in a photo finish in the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships giant slalom in Cortina, Italy, on Thursday.

Chasing the one major medal that has eluded her during her career, Shiffrin edged Gut-Behrami by 10-hundredths of a second in the first run. Gut-Behrami won the seond heat by 12-hundredths of a second, taking the gold by 2-hundredths over Shiffrin.

Austria’s Katharina Liensberger ended up with the bronze, just 9-hundredths off the pace.

Sensational Lara Gut-Behrami ? edged @MikaelaShiffrin ? and Katharina Liensberger ?
What a race!!!! pic.twitter.com/E9AIHBXQYe

— FIS Alpine (@fisalpine) February 18, 2021

This is Shiffrin’s third medal of the 2021 worlds — she ended up with bronze in a delayed super-G last week and gold in even more delayed super combined on Monday. And Shiffrin will have a crack at her fifth consecutive slalom crown on Saturday.

This is the 10th medal Shiffrin has earned at worlds dating back to her debut in the competition in 2013 and the second time she has been the runner-up in the GS (2017).

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While Vincent Kriechmayr and the Austrians have dominated the men’s side of world champs, Cortina 2021 appears to be Gut-Behrami’s and Shiffrin’s showcase for the ladies. The Swiss veteran has won super-G and GS gold with a bronze in downhill during the last week.

Meanwhile, Shiffrin seems to be emitting the vibe that she is returning to her form at the optimal time. Regardless of what happens in slalom on Saturday, and she will be the favorite, Shiffrin may not be “all the way back.” But this is starting to look like a pretty good rendering of Shiffrin in flight.

Three Events=Three Medals‼️@MikaelaShiffrin’s @cortina2021 is looking pretty nice so far…???

? Alpine Combined
? Giant Slalom
? Super-G

…one more to go!!#cortina2021 pic.twitter.com/HJwwUJKVit

— U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team (@usskiteam) February 18, 2021

Bigger questions

• Is Mikaela Shiffrin “back” in giant slalom? If we roll back the tape — a whole 10 days ago — before worlds, the big question was Shiffrin’s giant slalom, particularly after a pair of sixth-place finishes in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Jan. 16-17.

Shiffrin was flawless in the first run and had no major mistakes in the second. Again, she just got beat.

“The first thing I saw was the red, but I felt good with my skiing. I was pushing. It was not a perfect run, but it was aggressive,” said Shiffrin to The Associated Press. “I have never been shooting for a number of medals or those records or something. Just every time I race, I want to win.

“… This world champs has been really nice,” she said. “I (have) three medals now going into the final race where for sure I have another chance but it has already been incredibly successful.”

Truthfully, we really won’t have a definite answer until the first weekend in March in Jasna, Slovakia, where tech will first be competed after these championships.

• Does Shiffrin continue speed after worlds? While we completely understand the simplified focus of tech in the build-up to worlds in an uncertain season and a difficult time in her life, Shiffrin seems to have been energized by her return to speed.

After slalom this weekend, the tour hits Val di Fassa, Italy, for two downhills and a super-G. These events replace what were meant to be races in Yanqing, China. Just thinking aloud, but Val di Fassa is slightly closer to Cortina than China. Does she take a whirl at speed or stick to the original plan and take a week to rest and train for Jasna?

Good for Gut

We’d be lying if we said we weren’t rooting for Shiffrin. That said, huzzah for Gut-Behrami. She is 29 and made her World Cup debut on Dec. 28, 2007. She’s won 30 World Cups, including christening the Raptor, the women’s answer to Birds of Prey in Beaver Creek, with wins in downhill and super-G back in 2013.

Despite all this success — and injuries; a hip forced her to miss the 2010 Olympics; she did an ACL on home snow during the 2017 championships and hadn’t won on tour for three years until this season — Gut-Behrami had never won at worlds until last week’s super-G and Thursday’s GS after a 13-year quest.

While we’ve talked about the history of winning three golds at worlds, and how hard it is to do, Gut’s trials and travails at worlds — 20 starts during six different championships — before winning twice during the last week shows how hard it is to win once or twice at these championships, much less three times.

Shiffrin, by comparison, has been incredibly consistent at worlds. In 12 starts dating back to 2013, she’s 12-for-12 in making the top 10. Her “worst” finish at worlds was eighth in the 2015 GS at Beaver Creek — she was all of 19 then — and she has medaled in a whopping 10-of-12 worlds appearances.

And as amazing as that record is in these championships, that third gold remains elusive.