Page 21 - atoday

A21
SPORTS Thursday 29 december 2016
Shiffrin she competed in since getting her first top-three

Continued from page 17 February 2015, while Gut finish since winning the sea-
usually sits out slaloms. son-ending GS in St. Moritz,
The opening run in the Switzerland, in March.
“It was a really big fight,” morning hours was ham- “Basically I am very happy
Shiffrin said. “It was tough pered by strong winds and to be on the podium but I
because you could feel snowfall, but conditions am also a bit angry with
your skis like stopping and even got worse in the af- myself as I didn’t ski the final
going, stopping and go- ternoon. part too well,” the German
ing. And I thought, ‘This is “It was so tough. I didn’t said. “It was brutally difficult
slow, it has to be.’” think I was going to see the and I held back a bit.”
Shiffrin and Worley also fin- green light at the end,” Just like at the race the day
ished 1-2 in Tuesday’s GS said Worley, who briefly before, Shiffrin took a slim
on the same course. Wor- led the competition before lead in the opening run.
ley won the previous two Shiffrin had her final run. “It was fun again,” said United States’s Mikaela Shiffrin speeds down the course during
GS races in Killington, Ver- “It was so bumpy and you Shiffrin, who wore bib No. the second run of an alpine ski, women’s World Cup Giant Sla-
mont, and Sestriere, Italy, couldn’t see anything.” 6 after Tuesday’s win had lom, in Semmering, Austria, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016.
and now leads Shiffrin by Worley’s French teammate earned her a place among Associated Press
35 points in the discipline Taina Barioz had a nasty the seven highest-ranked
standings. crash and appeared to GS skiers, who get the fa-
Shiffrin extended her lead have hurt her left lower leg, vorable start numbers one
in the overall World Cup but Shiffrin said conditions to seven.
standings to 115 points over were still suitable for a GS “It was a good day to get
defending champion Lara race. into the top seven. I had a
Gut of Switzerland, who fin- “Outside the track it might nice track so it wasn’t too
ished sixth in Wednesday’s have been pretty danger- bad. Actually they did a re-
race. ous because there is so ally good job cleaning up
The three-day event in Aus- much snow but in the track the track,” said Shiffrin, re-
tria ends with a floodlit sla- it is OK,” Shiffrin said. ferring to a legion of course
lom race on Thursday, giv- Rebensburg, who injured workers who moved fresh
ing Shiffrin an opportunity her knee in the off-season, snow off the race line in
to further strengthen her dropped from second after the hours before the start,
lead. The Olympic cham- the first run to third but said and again before the final
pion has won all 11 slaloms she was still satisfied with run.q

Perpetual Loyal wins Sydney to

Hobart race in record time

HOBART, Australia (AP) —
Supermaxi Perpetual Loyal
has taken line honors in the
Sydney to Hobart yacht
race with its winning time
nearly five hours faster than
the previous record.
Skippered by Anthony Bell,
Perpetual Loyal crossed
the finish line at Constitu-
tion Dock in Hobart around
2:30 a.m. local time on
Wednesday to complete
the 630-nautical-mile race
in 1 day, 13 hours, 31 min-
utes, 20 seconds. In this photo provided by Rolex the Supermaxi Perpetual Loyal
That shattered the race crosses the finish to take line honors in the Sydney Hobart yacht
record, set in 2012 by rival race in Hobart, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016.
supermaxi Wild Oats XI, by Associated Press
4 hours, 51 minutes, 52 sec-
onds. der damage and, in 2014, casters for that.”
Wild Oats XI had been it withdrew after striking a Bell said he was immedi-
leading the race and was submerged object. ately aware of the misfor-
on target to take line hon- This year it was able to take tune that struck Wild Oats
ors for the ninth time when full advantage of favor- XI and handed Perpetual
it suffered a hydraulic fail- able wind conditions which Loyal the race lead. The
ure on Tuesday and was propelled the 88-boat fleet failure of a hydraulic ram
forced to withdraw. at a record pace. affected the movement
Perpetual Loyal inherited a “We got a good set of of the yacht’s keel and
comfortable lead, making weather conditions,” Bell forced it to pull out of the
up for its misfortunes of the said. “Sometimes you just race and head for the port
last two years when it had need a little bit of luck and of Eden.
to quit the race. In 2015 it we’ve certainly had our “We saw the boat tilt right
was forced out with rud- fair share of bad luck, so I over, we saw them come
was entitled to ask the fore- to a sudden stop,” Bell said.