Zrinka Ljutic wins Courchevel slalom; Mikaela Shiffrin returns from injury
Croatian Zrinka Ljutic earned her third World Cup slalom win this season, while Mikaela Shiffrin placed 10th in her first race in two months as she works her way back from tearing oblique muscles in a Nov. 30 giant slalom crash.
Ljutic, 21, prevailed by 1.26 seconds over Swede Sara Hector combining times from two runs in Courchevel, France, on Thursday evening.
"I had no idea if I'm fast or not, and there were some tracks which I got caught off," Ljutic said of the second run. "Then I just wanted to push, and I was like, 'Oh, screw it. I probably already lost my lead.' So I tried to push all the way down, and I don't believe it."
She became the first woman other than Shiffrin and 2022 Olympic gold medalist Petra Vlhova of Slovakia to win three World Cup slaloms in one season since 2011-12 (Marlies Schild of Austria).
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Ljutic's first two victories came in the absence of both Shiffrin and Vlhova, the latter sidelined since a race crash last January. She is the first Croatian woman to win on the World Cup since four-time Olympic gold medalist Janica Kostelic's last victory in 2006.
"I'm living the dream, and don't wake me up," Ljutic said.
Shiffrin was fifth-fastest in the first run — .87 behind leader Ljutic — then turned in the 22nd-fastest second run, ultimately finishing 2.04 seconds behind.
Shiffrin, a record 99-time World Cup winner, said last week that she will likely deal with the remnants of the injury through the rest of the season that ends in March.
'It's very much a step-by-step process, and this return to competition is part of the recovery," she said in comments distributed by her team Wednesday. "It actually doesn't even mean I'm recovered or I'm back to 100%. It means that we've gotten far enough in the recovery now that I'm strong enough physically, and I've had enough turns of slalom, to feel comfortable to push out of the start gate.'
Courchevel marked the final women's World Cup race before the world championships, which start next Tuesday in Saalbach, Austria.
Shiffrin is targeting the last two races of worlds in her primary events — the giant slalom on Feb. 13 and the slalom on Feb. 15. She could also race the women's team combined on Feb. 11.
The team combined — where nations field up to four teams of two ski racers each, one for a downhill run and one for a slalom run — makes its worlds debut this year and its Olympic debut next year.
'All of my teammates have been showing incredible speed this season, and I would be lucky and so excited to pair with anyone one of them for team combined if I'm in the position to be able to race!" Shiffrin said before Courchevel. "That entirely depends on whether I can get the proper GS preparation between Courchevel and world champs to be ready for return to GS racing, in enough time to also consider cutting that prep block shorter to start world championships earlier with team combined.'
Alpine skiing 2024-25 FIS World Cup season: TV, streaming schedule
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