Huetter wins Kvitfjell SG, Shiffrin still chasing 86th victory

Cornelia Huetter. Photo: GEPA pictures

KVITFJELL, Norway — The Austrian women have won their first 2022-23 World Cup, a super-G. True to the season’s standard, the Kvitfjell super-G produces the sixth winner in the six 2022-23 super-G races. Their champion is bib 14, Cornelia Huetter.

With many of the world’s best already in the finish, the Austrians exploded with joy when their 2022-23 winner Huetter crossed the line. It is almost inconceivable that this is the powerful skiing nation’s first women’s victory of the season. The country is celebrating. Today the Austrians had four of the fastest 10 skiers.

Huetter posted only the 18th-fastest time at the first split but found more speed through the shady middle parts of the course and mastered the finishing section.

“For sure, the luck was on my side, but I think I was also skiing very well,” the Austrian said about her small winning margin. “It’s really amazing. It’s really nice to come into the finish and have a green light. But I had mixed feelings through my run. I think it was a good combination of aggressive skiing and also having the feeling in the turns.”

Joining Huetter on the podium is Italy’s Elena Curtoni, who missed her first super-G victory of the season by a mere (+0.01). In third, Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami (+0.12) barely missed her second super-g victory of the season.

In her third super-G of the season, Mikaela Shiffrin was the best in the first sector but started losing time from sector two to the finish. However, she finished fourth (+0.16) behind Huetter and only (+0.04) off the podium, missing out on a record-tying 86th career victory.

“I felt very good with my skiing,” Shiffrin said. “Obviously it’s quite tight so I’ll just see if I can maybe get a little bit more (the next race) but not go overboard.”

Shiffrin was the fastest starter and led Curtoni by 0.37 seconds at the first intermediate time. Without making apparent mistakes, however, the American lost just over a tenth of a second at each following split.

Shiffrin smiled and briefly waved at spectators after her run.

“It’s actually so fun to ski. This track is amazing,” Shiffrin said. “The surface is breaking a little bit. So I feel quite lucky that, for the draw, I was in a pretty good spot with my bib. I could push everywhere.”

Bib one was the 33-year-old French skier Tessa Worley. The GS expert delivered a performance good enough to hold the lead until the Italians started racing at bib six. The Italian, Curtoni, took the lead from Worley and had the fastest time for the next five racers. Curtoni saw off the attack of her teammate Federica Brignone, then Switzerland’s Gut-Behrami, and immediately after Gut-Behrami, the World Cup overall leader, Shiffrin. It wasn’t until race winner bib 14 Cornelia Huetter crossed with the lead that Curtoni was relegated to second.

Two other North Americans were able to finish among the fastest 30. Canadian GS star Valerie Grenier finished 24th (+1.83) and USA’s Breezy Johnson ended the day in 28th (+2.26).

The snow in Kvitfjell on the Olympiabakken race slope was compact and dry. It was a great day to ski race. The surface was friendly, but the course was fast and provided big sweeping turns. The women’s field responded with aggressive, powerful skiing.

The Olympiabakken course hosted women’s races for the first time in 20 years. The resort, where the speed events were held at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, is an annual stop on the men’s World Cup circuit.

Finishing behind Gut-Behrami left Shiffrin also waiting for her fifth overall World Cup title. Shiffrin leads her last remaining challenger by 761 points with eight races left.

Huetter’s fourth career victory made her the sixth different winner in as many super-G races this World Cup season, joining Shiffrin, Gut-Behrami, Corinne Suter, Federica Brignone and Ragnhild Mowinckel.

Curtoni has not yet won a race but still went to the top of the discipline standings.

“Red bib, pink bib, blue bib, it doesn’t matter to me. Right now I’m not interested in the color of the bib, we’ll see at the end,” said Curtoni, adding that losing the race by one-hundredth was “somewhat bitter.”

“But that’s OK because I managed to trust my instincts and that’s how you manage to be fast,” she said.

Sofia Goggia narrowly avoided a crash when she lost balance on a jump halfway through her run.

Goggia led the final downhill training Thursday. The 2018 Olympic champion could wrap up the season-long downhill title Saturday for a third time in a row and a fourth time overall.

Top 30 race results and Analysis of the fastest three and top 30 North Americans

Analysis of the fastest three and top 30 North Americans

The Associated Press contributed to this report.