Mikaela Shiffrin places third in World Cup giant slalom at Killington Resort

Back-to-back and two-for-two.

Lara Gut-Behrami won the World Cup giant slalom Saturday afternoon in Killington, Vermont for the second-straight year. In doing so, the 32-year-old Swiss Olympic super-G champion has opened the 2023-24 GS calendar with two-straight wins.

“Honestly I don’t know,” she answered when asked about the key to her success on the Superstar slope. The eight-time world championship medalist’s combined two-run time was 1 minute, 53.05 seconds.

“I’ve been fighting a lot through these low points the last year. But, I’m just feeling confident right now with my GS skiing, so everything feels easier. I’m enjoying what I’m doing, so that helps.”

Alice Robinson, the first-run leader, finished 0.62-seconds back in second and Mikaela Shiffrin was 0.81-seconds off the lead to round out the podium.

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“I am super, super excited,” the Edwards skier said on the NBC Sports broadcast. “Thirteenth here last year in the GS, being able to come back and sort of conquer the hill in a way that I haven’t before, especially after the last few weeks of prep, that’s been an enormous success today. There’s still work to do.”

Shiffrin has finished sixth, fourth, first and third, respectively, in her first four races this season.

Robinson was in good position to claim a fourth-career World Cup win after the first run. The 21-year-old two-time Olympian from New Zealand held a slim advantage over the defending Olympic champion in the event, Sara Hector, and Gut-Behrami in third. Sitting 0.21 and 0.23-seconds back, respectively, were Marta Bassino and Shiffrin.

“I’m actually so happy with my run,” Shiffrin said after the morning session. “It took me a couple of turns to get into my rhythm, but then I think it’s actually the best GS I have skied on this hill.”

Robinson said she was “more excited than nervous” as she waited from the pole position for her second run.

“I was so happy with my first run; it was a bit unexpected,” she stated.

“And then second run I wanted to go for it. Definitely had a few mistakes, which maybe cost me the win, but it was so tight after the first run that anything could happen.”

Shiffrin called Gut-Behrami’s final run “spectacular.”

“She has this mentality to keep making speed no matter what and that’s the level that we all want to get to, have to get to,” Shiffrin stated.

The victory made Gut-Behrami the first Swiss female skier since Sonja Nef to win back-to-back giant slaloms.

“For me, it’s amazing,” the 2021 GS world champion told the Associated Press. “Two years ago, I won the world champs, like 20 years after Sonja. Now back-to-back (GS wins), like her, it’s amazing for me.”

Paula Moltzan finished eighth and A.J. Hurt finished 19th for the U.S.

“It was a great second run,” Moltzan said. “I’m happy to be able to pull it out and show all the American fans the fast skiing I’ve had this last couple weeks.”

Moltzan said the course conditions were “phenomenal.”

“We were lucky to get some wet New England weather that then froze up, so the snow has been really great,” she said. “I think it was a really fair surface for all the athletes.”

“And A.J.’s first run was so awesome and she’s been showing that speed in training more and more consistently,” Shiffrin said of Hurt, who was in 12th after run No. 1.

“It felt good; still, it’s a two run race” Hurt said. “But it feels really good to put one down. My plan was to ski really confidence and be aggressive and fight my whole way down and not let the course ski me.”

With two more giant slaloms set for Dec. 2-3 in Tremblant, Canada — meaning four of the 11 scheduled will be completed by the end of next weekend — Shiffrin said it was important to “set the tone” skiing on home snow Saturday.

“I want to start this stretch strong, so that’s helpful to feel like I have a bit more secure focus and mentality for the coming races next weekend,” she said, adding that it never gets old coming into the finishing straight seeing fans adorned in red, white and blue.

“Every year it’s so spectacular. It’s astonishing to me every single time I come over the break over — it’s so much noise, it’s so much energy.”

The World Cup weekend closes out with a slalom on Sunday. Shiffrin won the first five slaloms contested at Killington from 2016-2021 before placing fifth last year.