How Far Is Mikaela Shiffrin From Earning Back Crystal Globe From Biggest Rival Petra Vlhova?

The Alpine Skiing World Cup is heading to its anti-climax. Mikaela Shiffrin is looking to win her fourth World Cup title and is hanging onto first place. Likewise, 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics slalom gold medalist Petra Vlhova is challenging her until the final races. With a lead of 56 points, Shiffrin leads the way but Vlhova is hot on her heels. The giant slalom competition saw Vlhova taking home the victory as Shiffrin finished third.

The table sees the sensational Mikaela Shiffrin looking to tie Lindsey Vonn’s longstanding record of four World Cup titles. This has all the marks of being an interesting contest that heads to France in its final weeks.

Mikaela Shiffrin leads the way

As of right now, the World Cup standings see Shiffrin leading the way with 1245 points while Vlhova has 1189 points. Thus, the competitions are going down to the wire as it heads to France to decide the winner. However, the giant slalom competitions saw both Shiffrin and Vlhova losing podium places. Vlhova finished fourth and Shiffrin finished ninth. Hence, this was a big opportunity for her to close the gap.

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Katharina Leinsberger won the competition by posting a time of 1:46.18. Mina Fuerst Holtmann claimed the second position with a time of 1:46.34. Michelle Gisin took home third place. With Vlhova having the chance to lead the standings, this comes as a bitter blow for the Olympic gold medalist. This is the first time she missed podium standings this time around. Meanwhile, Shiffrin went down the rankings from fourth to ninth.

Who will the battle?

Despite her fourth rank finish, Vlhova gained 21 points in the overall standings. There will be four disciplines- downhill, super-G, giant slalom, and slalom competitions. For Shiffrin, The winner of the race receives 100 points, 80 points for the second while the third rank athlete receives 60 points.

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Shiffrin won three World Cup titles from 2017 to 2019. If she wins this, it would be four titles for her. With six titles to her name, Austrian Annemarie Moser-Pröll is the leader in the World Cup standings. Hence, it will be great to end a sensational Alpine Skiing contest between two talented skiers.