TRENDING FIGURE SKATING | ALPINE SKIING | TOKYO 2020

Shiffrin comes out on top in head-to-head Super-G with Vonn

By Nate ClarkJan 20, 2019, 6:58 AM EST
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The final chapter for U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn in Cortina d’Ampezzo came to an end on Sunday, but it wasn’t the kind of ending she would have chosen.

Vonn was one of many skiers on Sunday who were unable to finish the Super-G course. After making it through the most technically difficult section, Vonn misjudged her line coming out of the shadows, hit a gate and was forced to pull up.

Sunday’s Super-G marked the final time Vonn would race in Cortina d’Ampezzo. With 12 wins over 18 years of competition, Vonn holds the all-time win record at the venue. Vonn’s legacy in Cortina was honored at Saturday night’s awards ceremony, where she was overcome with emotion.

On Sunday, a disappointed Vonn made her way to the finish, where her close friend and fierce competitor, Italy’s Sofia Goggia, greeted her with a bouquet of flowers before dropping down to bow to Vonn.

The U.S.’ Mikaela Shiffrin, as with the previous three World Cup Super-Gs this season, found a way to win in Cortina. Racing for the first time this weekend, Shiffrin started her run .30 hundredths of a second back at the first checkpoint. But as it is with Shiffrin, she stayed strong through the end of her run, making up time and crossing the finish line to take the lead by .16 hundredths of a second.

Joining Shiffrin on the podium were Liechtenstein’s Tina Weirather and Austria’s Tamara Tippler. Full results are here.

Along with Vonn, some of the best World Cup Super-G skiers also struggled to finish. The winner of Friday and Saturday’s downhill races in Cortina, Austria’s Ramona Siebenhofer followed by Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin posted back-to-back DNFs on the same turn early in their runs.

Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec, a dual-podium finisher in Cortina this weekend, also skied out in the Super-G. Eleven racers in all would not cross the finish line on Sunday.

This is the 54th World Cup win for Shiffrin, which ties her with Austria’s Hermann Maier on the all-time World Cup win list.

Shiffrin is also currently leading across four categories in World Cup competition, including the overall title.

On the men’s tour, it turned out to be a second-run slugfest in slalom to close out the weekend in Wengen. In the end, France’s Clement Noel won his first World Cup event, holding off Manny Feller of Austria, while slalom World Cup points leader Marcel Hirscher slipped to third, despite having the fastest second-run time. Full results are here.

Next week the women’s World Cup heads to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany to race the downhill and Super-G. Competition begins on Saturday, January 26 with the women’s downhill at 4:00 a.m. EST.

The men’s tour heads to Kitzbuehel, Austria for three races — Super-G, downhill and slalom. The Super-G gets things underway on Friday, January 25 at 5:30 a.m. EST.

Watch every race live on Olympic Channel or stream it live with NBC Sports Gold.

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Suspended pairs skating champion John Coughlin dies at 33

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By Associated PressJan 20, 2019, 6:25 AM EST
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John Coughlin, a two-time U.S. pairs champion recently suspended from figure skating, died by suicide in Kansas City, Missouri. He was 33.

U.S. Figure Skating released a statement Saturday and cited his sister, Angela Laune. The sister said in a Facebook post that her “wonderful, strong, amazingly compassionate brother John Coughlin took his own life. … I have no words.” There were no further details from her.

The Kansas City Police Department said in an email Saturday that officers responded to a call of a suicide at a house in the Country Lanes Estates neighborhood in Kansas City just before 5 p.m. Friday and found Coughlin’s body. Sgt. Jacob Becchina declined to give specifics on the death.

Coughlin received an interim suspension from the U.S. Center for SafeSport and USFS on Thursday for unspecified conduct. He was barred from any activities sanctioned by the skating body or the U.S. Olympic Committee.

USA Today first reported the death.

USFS said it was “stunned’ by the news and extended “heartfelt and deepest sympathies” to the family. The organization said it would have no further comment “until a later time.”

The International Skating Union also said it was “shocked” and offered “kindest thoughts” in this “time of sorrow.” Coughlin was chair of the ISU athletes commission and a member of a technical committee.

Coughlin won national pairs championships with two partners. He teamed with Caitlin Yankowskas in 2011 and with Caydee Denney the next year.

Chloe Kim gets World Cup halfpipe win ahead of X Games

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By Nate ClarkJan 19, 2019, 1:24 PM EST
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Possibly foreshadowing what lies ahead next week at the X Games in Aspen, the U.S.’ reigning Olympic halfpipe champion, Chloe Kim returned to World Cup competition today to take home the top prize in Switzerland.

Competing in a two-run halfpipe event, Kim led the field after her first run with a score of 89.00 points. No one was able to unseat Kim from her perch with their second run, so Kim did it herself. Landing back-to-back 1080s, Kim bested her first run, receiving 93.75 points from the judges for her second-run effort.

Spain’s Queralt Castellet finished in second, scoring 80.50 points in her first run, while the U.S.’ Arielle Gold finished third overall with a first-run score of 77.25 points. Full results are here.

Next week Kim will attempt to win her fourth X Games Aspen Superpipe title in five years, which would put her in a tie for second all-time in the X Games record books, just behind her 2018 Olympic teammate, and six-time X Games halfpipe champ, Kelly Clark.  

Kim was coming off a nine-month break from competition before winning the opening World Cup halfpipe event this season at Copper Mountain Resort in Colorado back in December. The following weekend, Kim threw down an event-winning first run in the Dew Tour’s Modified Superpipe event.

Australian Olympic bronze medalist Scotty James won the men’s event Saturday, also with his first attempt in the halfpipe, landing an opening switch backside 1080 for a 95.75-point run. Japan’s Yuto Tatsuka was second with 92.00 points and the U.S.’ Jake Pates held on for third with a score of 85.50. It’s Pates’ first time on a World Cup podium. Full results are here.

Chase Josey, also riding for the U.S., was unable to put a run together in Laax, skidding out in each of his two runs.

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