Rebensburg edges Shiffrin for giant slalom gold
German wins her 2nd-straight World Cup event
Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg won her second straight giant slalom Saturday by edging Mikaela Shiffrin, the World Cup overall leader who was skiing in the state where she attended school and was urged on by a roaring crowd.
Rebensburg, a 2010 Olympic gold medallist in the giant slalom, won the discipline's first race of the season last month at Soelden, Austria.
She finished two runs on Killington's Superstar trail in one minute, 57.63 seconds, with Shiffrin 0.67 back. Manuela Moelgg of Italy held on for third, 1.49 seconds behind the leader.
Marie-Michele Gagnon of Lac-etchemin, Que., finished 24th with a total time of 2:01.35.
The second run turned into a stirring duel, with the last four skiers each taking over the top spot.
Moelgg had been third after the first run and went into the lead with a strong run. Then Shiffrin took her turn. She is a product of Burke Mountain Academy in northern Vermont and was greeted with thunderous cheers as she left the gate. The noise followed her all the way down the course. She had a strong run and wound up 0.82 seconds ahead of Moelgg.
But the day belonged to Rebensburg, who had a superlative second run, losing a little time in the middle of the course but making it up in the final stretch.
Stephanie Brunner of Austria was fourth in 1:59.28 and Federica Brignone of Italy was fifth in 1:59.38.
Weather changes course
The sunny skies that greeted the racers for the first run gave way to thick clouds as the second run progressed. It was spitting rain by the time the last skiers took to the course. The overcast made it difficult to see, what ski racers call flat light conditions.
Shiffrin and the other skiers said the course was in great shape, hard and fast. Despite an unusually warm fall, Killington took advantage of more seasonable weather in November to put between 3 and 7 feet of manmade snow on the trail.
The World Cup circuit returned to Killington and Vermont this year after a successful weekend of racing in 2016.
The race began with a moment of silence for David Poisson, the French skier who was killed while training in Canada on Nov. 13.