In the giant slalom on Friday Mikaela nearly achieved her 7th season win and 37th World Cup win. She was only 0.08 seconds down in the end, and came in third in the hundredths lottery, where luck was not on her side. “Unfortunately I skied too reservedly in some sectiions today” the US girl laments, who doesn’t normally have much reason for exaggerated self-criticism. Her lead to the next contender in the overall standings however is a gigantic 371 points at the end of the year. Christian Höflehner said: “Number games, where Mikaela could break Tina Maze’s points record (2414) are still far-fetched, as she would need to deliver serial wins in the speed races as well. But we will still be totally happy if she wins with a one point lead by the end of the season.” A second Redster girl, Katharina Gallhuber was also smiling from ear to ear in Lienz: with 7th place in the slalom rankings the 20 year old delivered her best career result to-date (slalom in Killington), and on her 2nd run was only three hundredths of a second slower than her prominent brand colleague.
