Shiffrin skis through sickness to ‘sweetest’ win of career
ARE, Sweden — Mikaela Shiffrin couldn’t breathe. She felt like she was suffocating. She had no energy, and self-doubt had set in.
Then came some words of encouragement from her coaches: “The reality is you have to push for 60 seconds. Everything else doesn’t matter. Just 60 seconds.” They were the sweetest 60 seconds of her career. Fighting off a lung infection, Shiffrin delivered her most resilient performance yet to capture the slalom title at the world championships and become the first Alpine skier — male or female — to win the same event at four straight worlds.
The drama added another layer of legend around a 23-yearold American who is on course to be the greatest skier of all time.
“I was just not feeling very good for the whole day,” she said, her voice noticeably croaky, “except for the 60 seconds that it mattered.”
After crossing the line, she collapsed to the snow for a while. She roused herself to get up only because she thought she was being disrespectful to the two skiers yet to come down.
First it was Anna Swenn Larsson, who finished 0.58 seconds behind Shiffrin to take silver. Then came first-run leader Wendy Holdener, who went round a few gates before going off the course.
Just like that, it was official: Shiffrin was a world champion for the fifth time — and the second time at these championships after winning the super-G on the opening day of competition in Are.