AL D’ISERE, France (Dec. 22) – Slalom World Champion Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, CO) finished a solid eighth Sunday in Val d’Isere to close the first half of the women’s Audi FIS Alpine World Cup giant slalom season. Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein won and posted her sixth World Cup podium of the Olympic winter, adding 100 points to her current overall lead over second place finisher Lara Gut of Switzerland. The women’s tour will return Dec. 28-29 in Lienz, Austria – site of Shiffrin’s first World Cup podium in 2011 – with a giant slalom and slalom. Universal Sports Network will broadcast the race at 1 p.m. ET.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Mikaela Shiffin (Eagle-Vail, CO) produced a solid eighth-place finish in the final Audi FIS Alpine World Cup before a short holiday break.
• In 12th after the first run, Shiffrin produced a flawless final run to jump four spots for the sixth giant slalom top 10 of her young career.
• Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein won the race to boost her overall World Cup lead with her sixth top three of the season and the first giant slalom win of her career.
• Lara Gut of Switzerland was second ahead of Sweden’s Maria Pietilae-Holmner.
• Megan McJames (Park City, UT) continued her momentum with 26th, her second straight giant slalom to score World Cup points.
• Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley, CA) was 24th after the first run, but skied off course early in the final. Resi Stiegler (Jackson Hole, WY) did not qualify for the final.
• Universal Sports Network will air the race at 1 p.m. ET.
• Next up for U.S. women is a giant slalom and slalom Dec. 28-29 in Liez, Austria – site of Shiffrin’s first World Cup podium.

QUOTES
Mikaela Shiffrin
The first run was definitely pretty open, and they were both really awesome courses so it was a matter of charging every gate. I felt like I was skiing solid, but the first run maybe not as much charging as I needed. On the second run I attacked a little bit more.

I’m really excited with where I’m taking my giant slalom right now. In training I’m skiing faster than in racing, so I have a lot of potential, but the trick is getting the training skiing into the races. That’s not always so easy, but there’s something to be said for the girls who can do that. Today I think a lot of those girls skied so well, and if I’m not getting my entire training skiing into the races then I wonder what’s going on with them.

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