Mikaela Shiffrin gets back on World Cup circuit, finishes 10th in first slalom since December Killington crash
'I didn't come into this race expecting that I was going to win,' Shiffrin said. 'I have to be at my top, top level. Now we build from here.'
Shiffrin crashed Nov. 30 in a giant slalom at Killington, and
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Shiffrin said before this race that she was prioritizing her recovery ahead of chasing the magic 100.
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'It was a very important step in my recovery to see how I'm stacking up with the top skiers in the world, and to see what I can work on to improve my skiing,' Shiffrin said. 'Also before the world championships it was so important to get this start.'
We are thrilled to see Mikaela Shiffrin's return to racing after her crash last November. Good luck in Courchevel this Thursday, Mikaela!
Photo courtesy of Dustin Satloff
— Killington Resort (@KillingtonMtn)
The worlds in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, are next month, where Shiffrin will be eyeing medals in giant slalom and slalom.
'For sure I want to target the GS and slalom and everything really depends on the next 10 days until those races, how it goes with training,' she said. 'I'm catching up to the fastest in the world so I have a lot of work to do.'
A massive 62 of Shiffrin's 99 World Cup wins have been in slalom. She cupped her hands and then waved to the crowd after finishing her second run.
No other skier, male or female, has won more than 86 World Cup races. Having overtaken Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark, she needed a podium finish to equal Stenmark's record of 155 World Cup podiums.
She was not quite ready to aim for that.
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'It felt challenging and the top women, they are are skiing amazing,' Shiffrin said. 'I am so happy to be back competing with them, hopefully I get faster in the next weeks.'
Chasing a seventh straight win in slaloms, Shiffrin was the sixth racer to start at shortly after 5 p.m. local time and with the slightly fading light.
Shiffrin was a bit low on her skis but made up some time on the bottom section, finishing 0.87 seconds behind first-leg leader Ljutic, who crossed the line in 51.88 seconds.
'I want to watch the video from the first run. It was like a little bit of my timing or rhythm [was missing] to catch the track in the right way,' Shiffrin said. 'I had some really good turns and some not fast turns.'
Zrinka Ljutic dominates under the lights in Courchevel for her third World Cup victory! 🏆⛷️✨
Race highlights here!👀
— FIS Alpine (@fisalpine)
A smiling Shiffrin walked over to hug Ljutic as the young Croat sat watching from the leader's chair. Ljutic had to pinch herself after winning such a dominant race.
'I'm living the dream now, so don't wake me up,' she said.
Shiffrin's been in Ljutic's position so many times before, but her expectations were more realistic after two months out.
Swiss racer Wendy Holdener was second after the first run, but she lost balance and missed a gate early in her second.
Austrian Katharina Liensberger placed fourth ahead of Switzerland's Camille Rast, who won the previous slalom in Flachau.
World slalom champion Laurence St-Germain of Canada placed 36th in the first run — around 3 seconds behind Ljutic — and did not make the second stint.
Rast leads the slalom standings with 450 points ahead of Ljutic on 409. Shiffrin is ninth with 226.
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Italian Federica Brignone leads the World Cup standings, with Shiffrin down in 17th.
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