USA TODAY International Edition
Look out, Shiffrin back to her old self
U.S. skier rested and ready to compete
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea – Mikaela Shiffrin is just fine, thank you.
When the American skiing star went into something of a slump last month, not finishing three races and placing seventh in two others, the chatter began. Was she feeling the weight of the considerable expectations on her for the Pyeongchang Olympics? Had she peaked too early in the season? Was she secretly injured?
No, Shiffrin said Saturday, she was just tired. Really, really, really tired.
“The Cortina series put me over the edge a little bit,” she said, referring to two downhill races in Italy, the first of which she finished on the podium. “The Lenzerheide slalom, when I didn’t finish three gates from the finish, that was like a defining moment that I needed to take a step back and get a couple days of rest and then get back into training.
“So that’s what we did. I got a bunch of rest, came here, got a little bit of training. I’m feeling much better. Much more like myself.”
In other words, ready to collect a few more gold medals.
The youngest Olympic slalom champion four years ago in Sochi when she was 18, Shiffrin has become arguably the world’s best all-around skier over the last four years. Over the last two, really.
She won the World Cup overall title last year and with 10 victories already this season is almost ensured of winning again this year. While she is overwhelmingly dominant in slalom, she also claimed her first downhill title this year, in Lake Louise and has one topfive finish in super-G.
But that kind of broad success comes with a price.
Shiffrin’s specialty, what comes most naturally, is the tech races, slalom and giant slalom. She shows up, races, collects her medal and moves on. It’s instinctual, and any fatigue it causes is physical.
She figured it might be different with the speed races, simply because it was such a departure from what she knew. Different equipment, different race setups.
Heck, different mountains even. So she was pleasantly surprised when she made the podium in both downhill races at Lake Louise. She got a bronze the first day and won the next. They were her third and fourth downhill starts.
“I knew that I could be fast with speed, but I didn’t realize could put it all together at this point,” Shiffrin said. “I started thinking maybe all that experience everyone talks about isn’t as important.”
Six weeks later, she got to Cortina. She was third in the first downhill, sharing the podium with American teammate Lindsey Vonn.
“I thought, ‘Oh, it can only go up from here, right?’ ” Shiffrin said.
The next day, in the second downhill, she was seventh. A day after that, she missed a gate in the super-G.
The slump had begun.
“I realized how important it actually is to have the experience and how much more mental energy you use memorizing a course and having to execute it for two training runs and the race,” Shiffrin said.
“The string of tough races for me spurred from underestimating how much energy it takes to do speed like that and to learn new tracks.”
While Shiffrin didn’t do the Pyeongchang test events last year, that brain drain won’t be a factor here. She’ll have been in Pyeongchang for close to two weeks when the women’s Alpine events begin Monday with the giant slalom — and she hasn’t spent that time sightseeing or souvenir hunting.
She’s been training and resting, resting and training.
“The surface here has been absolutely unbelievable,” Shiffrin said. “I can’t wait to race, actually, because I really like the conditions. It looks like it’s going to be really fun.”
Shiffrin hopes to compete in all five events but won’t commit to anything beyond the giant slalom and slalom right now. Five races in 11 days is a heavy schedule, and Shiffrin isn’t sure if she’ll have the energy for all of it.
But right now she’s rested. And ready to collect a few more medals.
“I can’t wait to race, actually, because I really like the conditions. It looks like it’s going to be really fun.”
Mikaela Shiffrin, on the South Korean Olympic ski mountains