Mikaela Shiffrin best time of Are giant’s first run

And if it was for this Friday? By dominating the first round of the giant Are (Sweden) with a good margin over the Canadian Valérie Grenier (+0”58), Mikaela Shiffrin started her day perfectly. If she confirms in the second run (starting at 1 p.m.), the American will win her 86th World Cup success, eleven years after the first, obtained at … Are, and will thus equal the absolute record of Swede Ingemar Stenmark, who accumulated victories between 1974 and 1989.

Very satisfied with the snow conditions, Shiffrin managed an impeccable run in the great Scandinavian freshness (-13 degrees at the start), never giving the impression of forcing to find the right line. The recent giant world champion in Méribel therefore has a lead of almost six tenths over Grenier and almost a second over the Austrian Franziska Gritsch (+0”93).

Logical contender for victory, the Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami missed a door. On the French side, Tessa Worley set the ninth fastest time (+1”52), more than half a second from the provisional podium. Coralie Frasse-Sombet is 13th (+1”86) and Clara Direz made a good start to the round before missing a gate, trapped by a movement of the ground.