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For years, Mikaela Shiffrin was by far the best slalom skier in the world. But then the American suffered a severe blow of fate and did not participate in a race for a long time. Now he returns and lives two exceptional days in Finland.
Mikaela Shiffrin doesn’t know what to do with all her feelings. Sometimes tears come to the eyes of the best ski racer in the world, and then she has to laugh again. The American has never experienced a World Cup like this, and he has never held a second place like this. “That was a very special day,” Shiffrin said after Levi’s slalom on Saturday, where he had returned after a nearly 10-month break from racing due to the accidental death of his father. “It felt like my first win.”
If you analyze the Shiffrin Alpine Racing Weekend in Lapland based on the numbers, you will see: In the first slalom you are 0.18 seconds behind the winner Petra Vlhova as runner-up. In Slovakia’s second success on Sunday, the visibly exhausted 25-year-old missed the podium in fifth place (+0.93). Michelle Gisin came in second and Austrian Katharina Liensberger in third.
The results and statistics hardly influence Shiffrin on his trip to the Finnish Arctic Circle. After a 300-day hiatus from racing due to the death of his father in February, the abrupt end of the season in the crown pandemic, and most recently a back injury, the outing at Levi is all about an emotional success for her. “I felt very lucky skiing,” says Shiffrin. “I am enjoying this second place more than ever. Of course I can go faster. But I had fun. “
Painful memory between races
Shiffrin is a five-time world champion and two-time Olympic champion, with 66 victories, only missing one of the longtime dominators, Marcel Hirscher, in third place on the list of the best of the World Cup of all time. He often achieved his hits in an impressively cool and confident manner, also because his mother Eileen was the track supervisor and father Jeff was the organizer and a haven of peace at their home in the USA.
Jeff used to text his daughter on his cell phone between two sessions; At Levi, Mikaela Shiffrin waited in vain for her father’s text message. That was a moment when joy and satisfaction were replaced by painful memories. “I really didn’t want to be so excited,” the three-time World Cup winner stuttered into the ARD microphone and, somewhat embarrassed, adjusted the scarf over her mouth and nose.
The American wants to learn this winter to deal with the blow of fate and fast ski at the same time. Of course she was “incredibly angry” that her father had died and “how lonely I feel sometimes,” she said these days. At the same time, however, he hopes: “If you have overcome such a serious tragedy, some things in your life are a little better ordered.”
After her podium hit on Saturday, Shiffrin shows a more moderate run on Sunday, she appears to be more powerless than the day before, possibly a bit drained from the first emotional competition. Long-term rival Vlhova backs up her claim to replace Shiffrin as the best coach and overall World Cup winner. But: “Shiffrin still has incredible potential. It hasn’t shown what it can do for a long time, “says television expert Felix Neureuther.
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