Mikaela returns to World Cup for GS, slalom final stretch

After world championships, the World Cup appears so staid.

Let’s face it, we had 10 races in 14 days or 13-in-14 if one counts the parallel and crew occasions — we don’t — at worlds in Cortina, Italy after which afterward there are solely two or three weekend races.

It’s positively laid again.

After Beaver Creek hosted world champs in 2015 — a large work expertise for a small-sized paper just like the Vail Each day — Birds of Prey in December of that 12 months appeared positively quaint with simply three races.

I actually wished to do a video of me standing in entrance of Beaver Creek Resort with a blizzard blowing. I’m going all Bruce Banner/Unbelievable Hulk and rip my shirt off and scream, “IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?”

OK, bringing it again. The World Cup is again, having returned final weekend with pace occasions Val di Fassa, Italy, with Switzerland’s Lara Intestine-Behrami successful to downhills and Italy’s Federica Brignone taking the super-G with Intestine-Behrami second in that race.

Mikaela Shiffrin returns to motion this weekend in Jasna, Slovakia, with big slalom Saturday and slalom Sunday. As all of us recall, in our earlier episode, Shiffrin was successful 4 medals at Worlds (gold in mixed, silver in big slalom and bronze in each super-G and slalom).

Big slalom

The $64,000 query, adjusted for inflation, is does Shiffrin’s efficiency within the GS at worlds carry over to the ultimate three weeks of the season?

As Shiffrin has gone by means of the dying of her father, COVID-19, and all the overall awfulness of the final calendar 12 months, her GS has struggled.

Sure, most ski racers would gladly donate very important organs to be having such a “poor” season as this — a World Cup win, a silver medal at worlds and sitting in fifth place within the factors in GS.

Shiffrin isn’t most skiers. In seven World Cup or world champs GS begins this 12 months, she has completed out of the rostrum 4 occasions. Sure, it sounds we’re actually nit-picking her to dying, simply looking for fault along with her.

We’re not. In a stretch of racing that ends along with her last GS race earlier than her father handed final season, Shiffrin went 17 giant-slalom races from Jan. 27, 2018-December 28, 2019 with 6 wins, 13 podiums and simply 4 non-podiums, a time frame that included each the 2018 Olympics and the 2019 worlds.

We began to see Shiffrin race like that outdated self at worlds. She raced properly sufficient to win had been it not for Intestine-Behrami having a peerless race.

If Shiffrin and her camp — and it’s a crew effort — have discovered what was lacking throughout her “annus horribilis,” this could possibly be enjoyable.

Italy’s Marta Bassino leads the GS with 460 factors, adopted by Tessa Worley (France, 336), Michelle Gisin (Switzerland, 212), Brignone (282) and Shiffrin (280).

Slalom

Wanna globe? It’s up for grabs in slalom. Shiffrin trails Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova by 65 factors and Austria’s Katharina Liensberger by 25 with 4 races, aka 400 factors, to go.

Our guess is the Shiffrin-Vlhova iron grip of dominance of slalom on the World Cup is being joined by Liensberger to make it a troika. Liensberger busted up Shiffrin’s streak of 4 straight worlds gold medals within the self-discipline two weeks in the past.

Whereas Shiffrin mentioned all the proper, diplomatic issues about Liensberger on the time, Mikaela wrote afterward in a press release launched by the U.S. Ski Workforce, “So far as slalom goes, in truth, I used to be upset with my snowboarding as I don’t assume it was reflective of both my present snowboarding or my crew’s efforts to supply the best possible and most effective preparation to present me a shot on the slalom gold.”

Feels like she’s motivated.