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CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — An ear-to-ear smile. No regrets. And one other medal wrapped round her neck.
What a refreshing sight it was to see Mikaela Shiffrin basking within the afternoon daylight after one other profitable day within the Italian Dolomites.
Make {that a} profitable world championships.
After gathering her fourth medal in as many races Saturday by taking bronze within the concluding slalom, the American skier was requested if she was content material with how every part went over these two weeks.
“Sure. That’s an enormous, resounding sure,” Shiffrin replied. “I imply that’s unbelievable. I had deliberate for 4 races and I believed, ‘OK, that’s 4 probabilities for a medal. Hopefully someplace in these two weeks I can do some good snowboarding.’ And I’m actually pleased with a lot of the snowboarding I did.”
It wasn’t simply the snowboarding, although.
Seemingly weighed down by her personal expectations and outdoors strain at previous worlds and Olympics, Shiffrin by no means appeared in the slightest degree disturbed in Cortina.
“Day by day had one thing actually particular, and it’s one thing to smile about,” she mentioned.
One good second was this: Having simply seen her document streak of 4 straight slalom world titles ended by Austrian upstart Katharina Liensberger in emphatic vogue, Shiffrin was the primary racer to run over and congratulate the brand new champion.
“If this was final yr, I’d be perhaps dissatisfied however not as grateful for the great moments within the day,” Shiffrin mentioned, referring to her practically two-second deficit behind Liensberger.
This season, although, is a distinct one for Shiffrin. She took a 10-month break from racing final yr after the dying of her father, Jeff Shiffrin, then had her comeback slowed by the coronavirus pandemic and a again harm.
No surprise she wasn’t about to decide to taking the identical, extra relaxed method to subsequent yr’s Beijing Olympics.
“I want to,” she mentioned. “It simply completely relies on how subsequent season goes main as much as that. As a result of I can really feel wonderful now, with a superb mentality after which that completely modifications. I really feel like this previous yr lasted like 20 years. So I don’t know what’s in retailer for the following yr. However I think about it’s going to be eventful.”
Having by no means earlier than entered so many races at a worlds or Olympics, Shiffrin leaves Cortina with gold in mixed, silver in large slalom and bronze in super-G and slalom.
Maybe much more exceptional is that Shiffrin has now medaled in 10 straight races at worlds — and in 11 of her 13 profession begins at her subsequent largest occasion after the Olympics.
“I do have a secure now,” she mentioned. “So I’ll in all probability put (the medals) in there. Or perhaps grasp them up.
“I wish to put the globes (the crystal globes for World Cup titles) round the home, as a result of they’re tremendous fairly. However folks ask to see the medals and I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, positive, I’ll go get them.’ However in any other case it simply looks like an entire lot of worth for me to presumably lose. So simply put them someplace the place you simply don’t contact it.”
Whereas Shiffrin confirmed spectacular velocity final week in her first super-G race in additional than a yr, she gained’t be competing when the World Cup resumes subsequent weekend in close by Val di Fassa with two downhills and a super-G.
“No, I’ve bought to go shave two seconds off my slalom,” she mentioned with a smile.
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Related Press author Eric Willemsen contributed to this report.
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Extra AP snowboarding: https://apnews.com/hub/snowboarding and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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Andrew Dampf is at https://twitter.com/AndrewDampf
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