Shiffrin and Fenninger share victory in World Cup giant slalom season opener
BySportsbeat
Updated 25/10/2014 at 18:28 GMT
Reigning World Cup giant slalom champion Anna Fenninger and American Mikaela Shiffrin got the alpine skiing World Cup season underway with a bang as they tied for top spot in the women's giant slalom in Soelden.
Anna Fenninger (AFP)
Image credit: AFP
Shiffrin, 19, became the youngest Olympic men's or women's slalom gold medallist ever when she took victory in Sochi earlier this year - although she placed fifth in the giant slalom in Russia.
But the reigning World Cup slalom champion showed she meant business at the start of the new season as she led Austrian home favourite Fenninger by 0.09 seconds after the first run.
Fenninger was also a gold medallist in Sochi, winning the Super-G while she took silver in the giant slalom behind Tina Maze of Slovenia.
And Fenninger pushed Shiffrin all the way on Saturday, clocking an overall time of 2:39.85 minutes to put the pressure firmly on the American who was the last competitor to go.
Shiffrin fell 0.63 seconds behind the Austrian at the early split but made up the deficit to tie for gold and with it her record her first career World Cup giant slalom victory.
It also meant she was the youngest World Cup giant slalom men's or women's race winner since France's Tessa Worley in November 2008.
Elsewhere Olympic champion Maze finished 22nd overall while bronze went to Fenninger's teammate Eva-Maria Brem who rose from seventh to third with an impressive second run.
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