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Mikaela Shiffrin
Photo: Tom Pennington/Getty Images
Ski star Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) surprisingly parted ways with her longtime head coach Mike Day before her most important race at the World Cup in France.
"I have decided to move into the next phase of my career with new leadership on my team," the American said in a statement.
Subsequently, the US Ski and Snowboard Association also declared the cooperation with Day to be over.
Day had more or less worked as a head coach for Shiffrin, which has its own team within the association, since 2016.
However, it is known that Shiffrin's mother Eileen is the strong figure in the background and therefore also sees herself as the most important contact person for sporting issues.
She regularly accompanies her daughter in the World Cup, especially after the death of Shiffrin's father three years ago.
The unexpected separation from Day takes place immediately before the World Cup giant slalom on Thursday, in which Shiffrin is the favorite for gold, just like in the World Cup slalom on Saturday.
After her spectacular elimination in the combination right on the first day of competition and then silver in the Super-G, the American skipped the downhill race on Saturday and the parallel competitions in the team and individual.
Instead, she withdrew to a training camp away from the World Cup venues of Meribel and Courchevel.
Shiffrin (27) is in the middle of a record season.
After the Olympic Games in Beijing, where she remained without a medal, she has already won 15 World Cup races this winter.
Only one win is missing to reach the all-time record of Swede Ingemar Stenmark (86).
Shortly before the start of the World Championships, the German Lena Dürr initially prevented this record from being set with her success in the second slalom in the Czech town of Špindlerův Mlýn.
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