Mikaela Shiffrin is set for a joyful Christmas celebration this year. The renowned American skier has kicked off the Olympic season with an impressive performance in slalom, securing victories in all four World Cup races so far. Additionally, she is showing signs of returning to top form in other disciplines after enduring two significant crashes in her career.
Shiffrin expressed her satisfaction with her performance this season, highlighting her ability to deliver top-level turns under pressure. Despite external perceptions of no pressure due to her lead or previous victories, she emphasized the mental and physical effort required to excel in each race.
This weekend, Shiffrin will compete in the Austrian resort of Semmering, a location where she has achieved seven of her remarkable 105 World Cup victories. She has previously clinched three victories in three days at Semmering in both 2016 and 2022, making it a venue of significant success for her.
The upcoming races at Semmering consist of a giant slalom on Saturday and a slalom on Sunday. Although Shiffrin holds a record 22 World Cup giant slalom wins, she has not reached the podium in this discipline since her severe crash in Killington, Vt., last season. Despite this, she has shown improvement, securing fourth place twice this season.
Shiffrin acknowledged the gradual process of improvement in giant slalom and emphasized the importance of continuous progress and experience from the slalom events. In a recent super-G event in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Shiffrin displayed progress towards her goal of excelling in this speed discipline, aiming to potentially include it in her program for the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
In slalom, Shiffrin’s performance has been exceptional, consistently winning by significant margins and demonstrating the ability to recover swiftly from mistakes. This contrasts with her struggles in the second half of the previous season, where she faced challenges due to post-traumatic stress disorder following her Killington fall.
Looking ahead, Shiffrin aims to match her career-best start to a season in slalom by securing one more victory, potentially equaling her record of five consecutive slalom wins set in 2018-19. With two Olympic gold medals already in her collection, Shiffrin is eyeing a potential participation in four events at the upcoming Cortina Olympics, including slalom, giant slalom, super-G, and the team combined event.
Having secured gold in team combined at the last season’s world championships alongside teammate Breezy Johnson, Shiffrin could form a formidable skiing duo at the Olympics. The team combined event involves one racer competing in a downhill run followed by a teammate in a slalom run, with combined times determining the results. Lindsey Vonn, after a strong start to the season at 41 years old, could potentially team up with Shiffrin to create an exciting “Dream Team” for the skiing competition.