Shiffrin ‘grateful’ for return

Set for a return to ski racing after 300 days away, Mikaela Shiffrin is looking for the answer to a question she has been asking herself since March. How will it feel to compete again? “Hopefully it is a positive experience ... to be a ski racer, still, and hopefully that will be the driving force,” Shiffrin said Thursday, two days before the longest break in her decade-long World Cup career is expected to end at a slalom in Finland. “... Since I last raced it has been the busiest, most stressful time of my life. ... I feel like racing is going to be like going on a vacation. Right now, I am just so grateful to be here.” The two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time overall World Cup champ is approaching her first race since Jan. 26, when she picked up her 66th career win. Her father, Jeff Shiffrin, suddenly died a week later following an accident at the family’s home in Colorado. A heartbroken Shiffrin took a five-week break before attempting a comeback at mid-March races in Sweden. However, the event was canceled, as was the remainder of the season amid the coronavirus pandemic.