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VAIL — Welcome to France, Mademoiselle.
Mikaela Shiffrin is formally in Courchevel for Saturday and Sunday’s World Cup large slaloms. She had been coaching in Reiteralm, on the Austrian aspect of that nation’s border with Germany.
Gotta love the sound of creaking ski boots, pole-clicks and radio-talk☺️ thanks @reiteralm for the superb coaching days! 🤙🤙
Time to go to France🙈 #sheskis pic.twitter.com/PgnEW74tdL
— Mikaela Shiffrin (@MikaelaShiffrin) December 9, 2020
The U.S. ski crew introduced that Shiffrin is certainly one of many starters — typically extra her determination than that of the squad — for the races together with Nina O’Brien, Paula Moltzan, A.J. Harm and Keely Cashman.
No want for velocity
Whereas Shiffrin took final weekend off to focus on her technical snowboarding, snow worn out two super-Gs in St. Moritz, Switzerland. FIS has these races as canceled on its web site, and has not introduced a rescheduling for these velocity races, so Shiffrin could have caught a break with regard to chasing the general title this season.
However does she care about velocity? Not as of late. As she enters the Courcheval races, Shiffrin continues to point that 2020-21 shall be a tech-focused season. In a convention name on Wednesday, the three-time World Cup champion reemphasized her intent to proceed to compete in solely GS and slalom no less than by way of the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Cortina, Italy, in February.
“I simply really feel like I’m enjoying catch up proper now, and I don’t really feel prefer it’s lifelike or sensible to attempt to play catch up in each single occasion at the very same time,” she mentioned Wednesday. “Prioritizing tech makes probably the most sense. It’s the place my highest precedence at all times is.”
In fact, a World Cup athlete’s schedule is topic to alter, however the U.S. ski team indicated in its release that Shiffrin’s subsequent competitions after Courcheval shall be a GS and slalom in Semmering, Austria, Dec. 26-28, which implies she is skipping two downhills and a super-G in Val d’Isere Dec. 18-20.
What’s extra, the U.S. ski crew additional introduced Shiffrin shall be competing in 5 technical races solely in January main as much as the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Cortina, Italy, in February.
That would appear to point that Shiffrin shall be in Zagreb, Croatia, Jan. 3 (slalom), Flachau, Austria, Jan. 12 (slalom), Maribor, Slovenia, Jan. 16-17 (two large slaloms) and Kronplatz, Italy Jan. 26. By inference, Shiffrin is not going to be at velocity occasions in St. Anton, Austria; Crans-Montana, Switzerland; Garmisch, Germany; and Val di Fassa, Italy.
And although Shiffrin is the defending super-G champion at worlds, the U.S. ski crew mentioned that she is going to probably solely compete in GS and slalom in Cortina.
“No, the general I might say just isn’t a factor this yr,” she mentioned. “I strive to not state objectives or expectations that aren’t considerably lifelike, not just for myself but in addition out of respect for the opposite athletes competing.
“There are a number of athletes who’re going to be extraordinarily aggressive (this winter), and I, at this level, don’t see myself as certainly one of them. I really feel like I may both kill myself attempting, or I may simply name a spade a spade and work on what I can do.”
It’s price noting that within the three years (2017-19) that Shiffrin was the World Cup champion and would have received these titles primarily based on solely her GS and slalom factors, but it surely’s clear that the massive globe isn’t a purpose.
OK, Courchevel
Usually, Courchevel is a contented place for Shiffrin. She has eight begins there and 4 wins — all coming in 2017 and 2018. Shiffrin swept the GS and parallel slalom in 2017 and the large slalom and slalom in 2018.
Final yr, she fared poorly — for her — ending up seventeenth. Eventual World Cup champion Federica Brignone ended up taking gold.
The larger situation within the Courcheval and Semmering races could also be Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova, who’s off to a sizzling begin with three wins in 4 races this season. Vlhova, who like Shiffrin is a tech skier with increasing velocity expertise, is 2-for-2 in slaloms and completed third behind Italy’s Marta Bassino in Soelden, Austria, within the season-opening GS.
“You’re actually actually good,” mentioned Shiffrin in the course of the convention name, as if chatting with Vlhova. “And also you’re making this actually, actually laborious for me to perform my objectives since you’re doing it as a substitute.
“I giggle about it as a result of I’d wish to be pals, however first, I’d wish to be quicker. That will be the perfect factor.”
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