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sports A23
Wednesday 10 January 2018
Shiffrin wins WCup slalom, extends winning streak to 5 races
By ERIC WILLEMSEN set. It was a nerves’ thing. If United States’ Mikaela Shiffrin, center, winner of an alpine ski, women’s World Cup slalom, poses
Associated Press I am a little nervous or anx-
FLACHAU, Austria (AP) — ious, my timing is off, then it with second placed Austria’s Bernadette Schild, left, and third placed Sweden’s Frida Hansdotter,
Olympic slalom champion can make everything look
Mikaela Shiffrin used a fre- really terrible.” in Flachau, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018.
netic final run to stretch Less than five weeks before
her winning streak in 2018 the Olympic slalom in Py- Associated Press
to five races at a women’s eongchang, the American
World Cup night race on called her recovery in the Raich. Now retired, Raich wins by a 22-year-old skier, in both the overall and the
Tuesday. final run “a really big step
Shiffrin became the first fe- for me.” holds the record for most set by Annemarie Moser- slalom standings as her
male skier to start a calen- “This was the first time that
dar year with five straight I was coming from behind slalom wins (35) on the Proell in the 1970s. main rivals, Slovakia’s Petra
wins, eclipsing the previous in the first run and I had to
best mark by Swiss standout make a statement,” she women’s circuit. Shiffrin’s It also was the 200th win for Vlhova and Switzerland’s
Vreni Schneider in 1989. said. “That was really im-
For the first time this season, portant for me, a really big win on Tuesday was the the U.S. ski team in the 50- Wendy Holdener, failed to
Shiffrin was not leading af- checkmark on the way
ter the opening part of a to the Olympics because American’s 30th in the dis- year history of the women’s finish their first runs.
slalom. After a run in which when we are there, any-
the American struggled thing can happen, and I cipline. The Austrian wom- World Cup. Only Austria After 19 of the season’s 38
for rhythm throughout, she want to be mentally pre-
trailed first-run leader Ber- pared for all those possibili- en’s team has been wait- (372) and Switzerland (301) races, Shiffrin has amassed
nadette Schild of Austria by ties.” The Austrian was on
0.37 seconds. a World Cup podium five ing for a slalom win since have won more races. Shif- 1,381 World Cup points.
But on a course set by her times before, most recently
coach Mike Day, the de- in Killington in November, Nicole Hosp triumphed in frin and four-time overall Four years ago, that
fending overall champion but has yet to win a race.
was back to her best and “I grew up in Saalfelden, Aspen in 2014. champion Lindsey Vonn amount would have been
posted the fastest second- nor far from here. So this is
run time to beat the Aus- really a home race for me. Shiffrin celebrated her 41st together have added 119 enough for the overall title
trian by 0.94. Frida Hans- It was amazing for me,”
dotter of Sweden was 1.43 Schild said. “I didn’t feel career win, matching the wins to the American total. as Anna Veith won it with a
behind in third. pressure, the audience
“My timing, my feeling, my gave me energy.” record for most World Cup Shiffrin went further ahead total of 1,371.q
rhythm was so much bet- The previous time she led
ter than in the first run,” a slalom after the opening
Shiffrin told The Associated run, in 2013 in Courchevel,
Press. “Actually, the biggest she lost her advantage
change was just my mind- to her older sister Marlies
Japan kayaker banned for 8 years for spiking drink of rival
TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese drugs. After Komatsu tested In this November 2010, photo, Japan’s Yasuhiro Suzuki competes
kayaker has been banned positive, Suzuki admitted in the mens single kayak race at the 16th Asian Games in
for eight years for spiking putting a muscle-building Shanwei, China.
the drink of a rival so he supplement containing the
would fail a doping test. banned steroid methandi- Associated Press
Yasuhiro Suzuki drugged his enone in his drink.
key rival Seiji Komatsu at Suzuki was hoping to quali-
the Japan championships fy for the 2020 Olympics at
in September. home. But he will also miss
Suzuki spiked a drink with an the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
anabolic steroid, causing The incident is Japan’s first
Komatsu to fail a doping case of an athlete failing
test, the Japan Anti-Doping a doping test due to delib-
Agency said on Tuesday. erate contamination, ac-
The Japan Canoe Federa- cording to the Japan Anti-
tion began investigating Doping Agency, which
after Komatsu tested posi- handed down the eight-
tive but denied ever taking year ban.q
