Dream comeback: Shiffrin gets the slalom ball: ‘I thought: fuck it, just drive’

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Is it a fairy tale? As soon as Mikaela Shiffrin (28) returned from her injury, she made history again. She won the World Cup for the 96th time, extending the all-time record. She won the slalom crystal ball early for the 8th time – at just 28 years old.

Only Ingemar Stenmark (giant slalom and slalom) and Lindsey Vonn (downhill) have won a discipline classification so often. It’s as if Shiffrin never left. “It feels like a dream,” she says.

Drive, just drive

Already in the first run, Shiffrin shows that she did not travel to Are for a ride six weeks after her knee and ankle injury. She gets along well on the high-speed course of Swiss trainer Denis Wicki, who is clearly ahead of Michelle Gisin (30). Shiffrin is two-hundredths faster than Gisin.

Three and a half hours later she has to adapt because the position of ex-Vlhova coach Livio Magoni is much more twisting and difficult. “But even then things sometimes happened quickly. But I thought, fuck it, just drive,” says Shiffrin, who immediately apologizes for the expression.

Anyway: Shiffrin dominates and wins by 1.24 seconds. Gisin says: “I didn’t think Mikaela would come back so strong. But that’s cool. It is very important for our sport.”

Shiffrin is already thinking about next winter

Shiffrin can eventually celebrate again at the site of her first World Cup victory. But she also looks back on the past difficult weeks. «I always had to think day by day. If I had looked ahead just a week, I would have panicked.

It was important for her to be back for the final races of the season. “So I’m starting next season in a better place,” she says. Your opponents need to dress warmly again.

Source : Blick