Mikaela Shiffrin is enjoying a remarkable start to the Olympic season, heading into the Christmas period with an unblemished record in slalom.
The American skiing standout has secured four victories from four World Cup slalom races, while also demonstrating a strong return to form in other disciplines following the two most significant crashes of her career.
Reflecting on her performance, Shiffrin stated: “This season so far I had the ability to like bring top level turns in those pressure moments. The world when they’re watching thinks there’s no pressure because I have a big lead or I did it the race before but every single time I stand in the start it’s like a new situation and I found a way so far. I found a way to dig really deep to find that quality skiing. But it’s not straightforward. It takes so much effort.”
This weekend, Shiffrin is set to return to the Austrian resort of Semmering, a venue where she has claimed seven of her record 105 World Cup victories. She has twice achieved a triple victory there, in both 2016 and 2022.
This season, there are just two races: a giant slalom on Saturday and then a slalom on Sunday.
Giant slalom and super-G
While Shiffrin has won a record 22 World Cup giant slaloms, she hasn’t been on the podium in the discipline since before her nasty crash in Killington, Vermont, last season — which left her with a deep puncture wound in her side and severe trauma to her oblique muscles.
But Shiffrin has been getting closer in giant slalom, finishing fourth twice this season, including in the last race in Tremblant, Quebec.
“It’s just going to keep taking time,” she said. “I want to just keep improving or maybe get repetition from the slalom level.”
Shiffrin also recently entered a super-G in St. Moritz, Switzerland, for her first speed event since crashing in a downhill in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, nearly two years ago. She was on pace for a decent finish until she missed the final gate.
Still, it was progress toward her goal of possibly adding super-G to her program at the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Olympics — where women’s Alpine skiing will be contested in Cortina.
“Even if it’s not the Olympics, super-G is a big goal of mine to return to a strong form in super-G World Cup,” Shiffrin said.
Slalom gas pedal
In slalom, Shiffrin’s form is so solid that she’s been able to consistently win by massive margins — an average gap of 1.5 seconds — and quickly recover from errors.
It’s quite a turnaround from the second half of last season, when Shiffrin was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder due to her fall in Killington.
“Right now I can feel when I have a disruption in my momentum and then in my mind it is like a gas pedal,” she said of how she can turn up the pace mid-run.
One more victory in slalom and Shiffrin will match the best start to a season in her career in the discipline: She won the first five slaloms back in 2018-19.
Overall, Shiffrin has won five straight slaloms including the final race of last season. Her longest total winning streak is seven slaloms — which she has achieved twice.
Dream team
Already the holder of two Olympic golds — slalom in 2014 and giant slalom in 2018 — Shiffrin could race in four events at the Olympics in Cortina: slalom, giant slalom, super-G and the new team combined.
Shiffrin and downhill teammate Breezy Johnson claimed gold in team combined at last season’s world championships.
The team combined involves one racer competing in a downhill run and then a teammate competing in a slalom run — with the times added together to determine the results.
Lindsey Vonn unsuccessfully campaigned to team with Shiffrin in combined at worlds, but now has a better chance at forming a skiing “Dream Team” after her strong start this season at age 41.
