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≡ WORLD CUP FINALS ≡
The 2024-25 FIS Alpine World Cup season came to a conclusion on Thursday, with the women’s and men’s Slaloms in Sun Valley, Idaho, with the winner of the first two women’s Slaloms – American star Mikaela Shiffrin – winning the final one.
Shiffrin got to the lead on the first run, with one of her patented, dominating performances, taking off as the no. 2 skier and timing 52.05, which no one could touch. Closest was German Lena Duerr at 52.64, with Swiss Wendy Holdener at 53.05 and Katharina Liensberger (AUT) at 53.27. Fellow American Paula Moltzan was eighth at 53.91.
On the second run, Slovenia’s Andreja Slokar zoomed into second from ninth and stood second to Duerr as Shiffrin started her run to finish the competition.
And Shiffrin was terrific, compiling the third-fastest second run of the day and finishing at 1:45.92 for an easy victory, her 101st career World Cup win, the most ever.
Duerr was second at 1:47.05 with Slokar third by 1/100th (1:47.06) and Holdener fourth at 1:47.52. Moltzan moved up to sixth, in 1:47.92.
For Shiffrin, closing out a difficult season that was marred by a bad crash on one of her favorite courses, in Killington, Vermont, then a long recovery, surgery and re-establishing herself on the slopes, it was her fourth World Cup gold of 2024-25. So, she finished with:
● 101 career World Cup wins, most in history
● 64 career World Cup slalom wins, most in history
● 157 career World Cup medals, most in history
The seasonal World Cup Slalom standings showed Croatia’s Zrinka Ljutic as the winner with 541 points, ahead of Liensberger (509) and World Champion Camille Rast (SUI: 492). Shiffrin finished fourth at 486, despite missing four of the 10 races this season.
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The men’s World Cup second run followed the women, with Norway’s Timon Haugen – a two-time winner this season – the race leader at 51.39, followed by Olympic champ Clement Noel (FRA: 51.49) and fellow Norwegian – and 2023 World Slalom Champion – Henrik Kristoffersen (51.53).
In the second run, Swiss star Loic Meillard, who won the Giant Slalom on Wednesday, zoomed into the lead from eighth as the no. 18 starter – out of 25 – with a combined time of 1:44.26. But he was passed by Fabio Gstrein (AUT: 1:43.98) and then Noel (1:43.64), leaving Haugen as the final skier.
And despite losing some time on the bottom half of the course, Haugen managed to win, posting the 15th-fastest second run, but it was enough at 1:43.61, for a third World Cup win this season and fourth in his career. Noel had to settle for second, just 0.03 behind, with Gstrein taking the bronze (+0.37).
Benjamin Ritchie was the only American in the final, finishing seventh at 1:45.24.
The seasonal standings gave the Crystal Globe to Kristoffersen – his fourth in Slalom and fifth in his career – with 662, followed by Meillard (610), Haugen (609) and Noel (606).
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