SHIFFRIN WINS, THANKS FORMER COACH
Mikaela Shiffrin covered her mouth with her fluorescent orange mittens and then collapsed to the snow, still breathing heavily as her entire body pulsated from the exertion of her gold medal-winning run.
What a relief after a hectic week for the American skier.
Having endured a small protest aimed at her by environmentalists who mistakenly thought she was using a helicopter for training, Shiffrin’s team was thrown into disarray two days before the giant slalom at the world championships in Meribel, France, when her longtime coach, Mike Day, left suddenly when Shiffrin told him she wanted to change her staff at the end of the season.
“It’s been definitely some high levels of stress these days,” Shiffrin said. “It was very, very difficult today to keep the focus and keep the intensity on the right level.”
Day had coached Shiffrin since 2016 and was with her for 65 of her 85 World Cup wins. Shiffrin needs just one more win to match Ingemar Stenmark’s overall record of 86 victories, having already broken Lindsey Vonn’s women’s mark of 82 wins.
While wins at worlds don’t count toward the World Cup totals, that was the last thing on Shiffrin’s mind Thursday.
“One thing I really want to say is just, ‘Thank you,’ to Mike for seven years of — I can’t even say helping me — he’s been such an integral part of my team and being there to support me through some of the most incredible moments in my career and some of the most challenging moments of my career and also my life,” Shiffrin said, her voice cracking with emotion.
Nobody on Shiffrin’s personal team, which is also led by her mother, Eileen, who also coaches her, expected Day to react the way that he did.
That tight-knit bond that the skiers feel for each other was evident when Federica Brignone and Ragnhild Mowinckel rushed over to
congratulate Shiffrin while she was still lying on the snow, then jumped on top of her.
Brignone finished a mere 0.12 seconds behind Shiffrin to take the silver, adding to the Italian’s gold in combined, and Mowinckel of Norway finished 0.22 behind for the bronze.
French skier Tessa Worley, who was second after the opening run, slid on her inside ski and fell in her second run.
The men’s giant slalom is scheduled for today then Shiffrin’s last race at worlds is the slalom — her best event — on Saturday.
Locally
The San Diego State women’s basketball team (21-7, 11-4 MW) outlasted Colorado State (17-9, 10-5) 53-49 at home and moved into sole possession of second place while holding the Rams to a season-low point total.
• In a battle of a pair of 4-1 teams, SDSU scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning and held on for a 3-2 victory over Wichita State at SDSU Softball Stadium.
• Scoring all their goals in the first half, the San Diego Sockers scored a 7-4 MASL win at the Dallas Sidekicks.
Soccer Mallory Swanson
scored a pair of first-half goals and the United States beat Canada 2-0 in a SheBelieves Cup
match at Orlando, Fla., clouded by a labor dispute between the Canadian players and their federation. The Canadian women wore purple shirts during the pregame national anthems that read “Enough Is Enough.” Before kickoff, U.S. players linked arms with their Canadian counterparts in the center circle in a show of solidarity. Debinha scored off a pass from Marta in the second half and Brazil won the opening match of the SheBelieves Cup 1-0 over Japan.
• Barcelona and Manchester United served up a thrilling 2-2 draw in the Europa League knockout playoffs. It outranked anything seen in the Champions League this week.
• The Spanish league says Barcelona is not facing sanctions for having made payments for technical reports on referees to a company that belonged to the vice president of the refereeing committee. League president Javier Tebas says sports sanctions such as loss of points or relegation are not possible because there was a three-year statute of limitations for the alleged irregularities that occurred through 2018.
Death
Hall of Fame horse trainer John Veitch died. He is best known for training Alydar to narrow losses in all three Triple Crown races against rival Affirmed in 1978. Veitch trained four champion horses during his career that began in 1974 and ended in 2003.
Veitch’s family says he died Tuesday of natural causes at home in Lexington, Ky. He was 77.
Sports and courts
A grand jury in Nevada has indicted Saints running back Alvin Kamara and Bengals newly acquired cornerback Chris Lammons in connection with an alleged beating at a Las Vegas nightclub last February. The Clark County grand jury handed up the indictment in Las Vegas on Wednesday on the same two battery charges prosecutors filed last year against the NFL players and two others. KLAS-TV first reported the indictment Thursday. Kamara was arrested Feb. 6, 2022, after he played in the NFL Pro Bowl at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The others turned themselves in the days following when warrants were issued for their arrests.
• An Indiana jury found the NCAA not liable in the death of former Grand Valley State quarterback Cullen Finnerty, whose widow accused the college sports governing body of failing to warn athletes about the risks of head injuries while playing football.
Also
Dominic Thiem and Diego Schwartzman were eliminated from the Argentina Open. Thiem, the 2020 U.S. Open champion who is trying to regain his form after falling to 99th in the rankings, lost 6-4, 6-4 to Juan Pablo Varillas. Schwartzman, the local favorite, was beaten by Bernabe Zapata Miralles, 6-1, 6-3. Topseeded Carlos Alcaraz returns to action in today’s quarterfinals, facing Dusan Lajovic.
• The New York Giants re-signed wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins. He was scheduled to become an exclusive rights free agent next month.