12 Established 1961 Sports Monday, January 8, 2018 Unstoppable Mikaela Shiffrin wins fourth race in a row Stylish Hirscher clinches Swiss double KRANJSKA GORA: Overall World Cup leader Mikaela Shiffrin, who won her maiden overall World Cup title Shiffrin won her fourth race in a row yesterday, storm- last season, tops the overall standings with 1,281 points, ing to victory in the slalom at Kranjska Gora by a huge an overwhelming lead of 721 points over second- 1.64 seconds. It was her seventh win in the last eight placed Holdener. races in all disciplines, her form peaking with the This season she has won four slalom races, two Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang just one month away, giant slaloms, one parallel slalom, the Oslo city event and the 40th World Cup win of her career. and a downhill. Shiffrin is widely expected to retain the Olympic Austria’s Marcel Hirscher won a second race of the slalom title she won at the 2014 Games in Sochi, weekend yesterday, adding a slalom victory to a giant Russia, as well as having a slalom triumph 24 hours ear- shot at gold medals in the lier for a 52nd career World giant slalom and Super G. “I Cup win with a classy display was really aggressive, espe- on the steep, tightly-gated cially the first run,” she told Adelboden slopes. Swiss television, adding I’m really happy Hirscher timed 1min that she did not take an 50.94sec with his compatriot interest in passing the 40- with my skiing Michael Matt, younger win milestone. brother of the 2014 slalom “It doesn’t mean so right now gold medallist Mario Matt, much,” she said. “I’m not second at 0.13sec down the focusing on that, I’m really soft, ski-rutted run. Norway’s happy with my skiing right Henrik Kristoffersen was nar- now and that’s what I’m rowly edged into third at focusing on.” The 22-year-old produced an astonishing 0.16sec. first run as she charged down the course in 51.44 sec- On a relatively warm day in rutted conditions onds, with Frida Hansdotter of Sweden the second- Hirscher took his foot off the gas on the second run of KRANJSKA GORA: First-placed US’ Mikaela Shiffrin reacts on the podium during the trophy ceremony after best on 52.91. what is considered a tough, steep course, but still had competing in the FIS World Cup Ladies Slalom race in Kranjska Gora, yesterday. — AFP Even though Shiffrin eased off slightly on the sec- enough to cruise to a seventh win of the season, three ond run, when her time was bettered by two other in slalom and four in giant slalom. skiers, nobody else could get near her total time of one It is the kind of form that will make him the man to extends the 28-year-old’s overall World Cup tally to Hirscher is closing in on Austrian Hermann Maier’s total minute 43.50. Hansdotter was second and beat out in Pyeongchang for February’s Winter Games, 774, ahead of Kristoffersen in second at 660, and 354 of 54 World Cup wins, but is still far behind the record of Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener third. as he seeks a first individual Olympic gold. The win to 295 over the same man in the slalom standings. 86, held by Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark. — Agencies Biathlon aiming Norway’s Bjoergen to woo more fans eyeing medal history in Pyeongchang in Pyeongchang STOCKHOLM: With a record number of viewers having watched some thrilling action the 2017 World STOCKHOLM: Four years after equalling the record for Championships, the sport of biathlon is in rude the number of Olympic medals won by a woman, 37-year- health and aiming to win even more fans during the old cross-country skier Marit Bjoergen will be aiming to Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. make that accolade her own in Pyeongchang as she leads Statistics released by the European Broadcasting the Norwegian medal charge. Union following the 2017 championships in Bjoergen has collected 10 Olympic medals, the same Hochfilzen, Austria, showed a 50 percent increase in number as fellow cross-country skiers Raisa Smetanina of the number of viewers compared to the 2013 event. Russia and Italy’s Stefania Belmondo, and another, of any In total, 140,000 spectators turned out to watch hue, at the 2018 Games will put her out there on her own. 315 athletes from 37 different countries compete With more gold medals than either of those two, and they were treated to some thrilling finishes, such Bjoergen is arguably the most successful female athlete in as American Lowell Bailey’s stunning win in the the history of the Games, and few would bet against her men’s 20km individual race. adding to her tally. Laura Dahlmeier’s superb haul of five gold “The Olympics are my goal. This will be my last medals for Germany also lifted the sport’s promi- Olympics, so I want to do all I can to be as well-prepared nence there, and many of these new-found fans will as possible for it,” she said in a recent interview. Bjoergen, be keeping an eye out for her and her team mates in who won gold in the 15 km skiathlon, team sprint and South Korea. The sport has its origins in the military OBERHOF: Frederik Lindstroem of team Sweden (L) and Thierry Chenal of team Italy compete at the 30km freestyle events in Sochi, has returned from materni- forces of the Nordic region, where it was developed shooting range during the men’s 4 x 7,5 km relay event during the men’s 4 x 7,5 km relay event of ty leave as dominant as ever. as a winter training method for troops. the IBU Biathlon World Cup in Oberhof, eastern Germany, yesterday. — AFP She and her Norwegian team-mates swept the board Historical records in Norway indicate that sol- clean of women’s cross-country medals at the 2017 World diers there took part in combined skiing and shoot- Championships in Lahti, Finland, with Bjoergen picking up ing competitions as far back as the late 1700s but Previously, a shooter would have to remove their the same position for every shot, and kept com- three individual wins and one team victory as Norway much has changed since the Scandinavian soldiers hand from the rifle grip to manually operate the bolt- pletely still while shooting. “It’s a lot of work. They topped the overall medals table. pioneered the sport. action of the rifle before each shot, an action which have to be fit and have good stamina, and at the A superb skier in both the classic and skating styles, For example, the modern-day biathlon rifle bears cost valuable seconds. Invented in the 1980s by same time be able to focus, to shift from the ener- Bjoergen says the birth of her son Marius in December little resemblance to its military counterparts, having German gunsmith Peter Fortner, the repeater allows getic skiing to being a calm shot,” explained 2015 has changed things somewhat. “I get time to train, been developed specifically for the sport. The mod- the shooter’s hand to remain on the grip and reload Chabloz, who now coaches young biathletes in (but) the challenge is to get enough recovery and rest. ern rifles usually have four magazines containing five with the thumb and forefinger, giving the athletes Sweden. When you don’t rest enough it affects your training,” she shots each attached to them, with the athletes greater speed and more stability when shooting. Each miss is penalised by either by straight time told reporters recently. — Reuters inserting a new magazine each time they stop to But while improvements have been made to rifles penalty or the athlete being forced to ski in a shoot. Adopted as the standard for biathlon rifles in and skis, the basic tenets of the sport remain the “penalty loop” that is usually 150 meters long. This 1978, the .22 calibre rounds have a low recoil, mak- same. Racers have to go as fast as they can around means that a considerable lead built up while skiing ing it easier for shooters to control the rifles. But the course before stopping to shoot, and it is essen- can be quickly wiped out if the shooter fails to hit perhaps the greatest development in the rifles has tial for them to get their pulse under control if they the target. For Chabloz, it is the simplicity of the been the addition of the repeater, a rifle-bolt mech- are to be able to consistently hit the target. sport that makes it so appealing to athletes and Queen of the Luge, anism which makes it easier and quicker to reload Four-time Olympic biathlete Jean-Marc Chabloz audiences alike. “It’s about skiing fast and shooting Geisenberger the rifle after each shot. told Reuters that ideally, the body must always be in straight,” he said. — Reuters eyes more gold Japan ski jumper MANCHESTER: Four years on from her double Olympic gold medal success in Sochi and German luger Natalie Geisenberger Kasai set to break shows no signs of slowing down. The 29-year-old, who won in singles and mixed-team gold in Russia four years ago, has Olympic record dominated the sport since 2013 when she won her first FIL World Cup title - a crown she has won every year since. An Olympic bronze medallist in the singles at Vancouver TOKYO: Japanese ski jumper Noriaki Kasai could 2010, Geisenberger arrived at the Winter Games in Sochi in become the first athlete to compete at eight Winter outstanding form and lived up to all expectations.