Killington GS canceled due to wind with Shiffrin last

KILLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A women’s World Cup giant slalom was canceled on Saturday, with the poor weather perhaps sparing Mikaela Shiffrin’s blushes.

The race in Killington, Vermont, marked the return of World Cup skiing to North America for the first time in two years.

However, after just nine competitors completed their first runs, the race was suspended amid strong winds and snow. And half an hour later the jury and organizers decided to cancel it.

Shiffrin, who was cheered on by a passionate home crowd, was the slowest of the skiers who managed to race — the two-time Olympic champion was 1.38 seconds behind France’s Tessa Worley, who had the fastest run.

There is a slalom scheduled for Sunday. Shiffrin has won all four previous World Cup slaloms in Killington, which can almost be considered a hometown race as she honed her skills nearby at the Burke Mountain Academy as a teenager.

Shiffrin can match yet another record as she has won 45 World Cup slaloms, leaving her one short of the record for most wins in a single discipline, set by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark with 46 giant slalom victories in the 1970s and ’80s.

Shiffrin won the season-opening giant slalom in Sölden, Austria, but finished second to Petra Vlhova — her biggest rival — in both slalom races in Levi, Finland, last week.

Shiffrin and Vlhova share the lead in the overall World Cup standings on 260 points.

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