Winning return for Mikaela Shiffrin... A month and a half after her fall during the descent of Cortina d'Ampezzo, the American superstar, aged 28, secured the World Cup slalom globe this Sunday by winning the Are slalom in Sweden.
Shiffrin won her eighth globe in her favorite discipline after winning six of the nine slaloms in which she took part this winter.
ICYMI: Heyyyyyy!
New #MovingRightAlong Episode is UP!
Somehow fit 6 weeks worth of rehab, recovery, and training, in 7 minutes: https://t.co/bsN5XzgVbj.🤪
And now I'm really looking forward to returning to racing tomorrow here in Ă…re!
#weareskiing pic.twitter.com/dlFplkybq1
— Mikaela Shiffrin (@MikaelaShiffrin) March 9, 2024
Leading by nothing at the end of the first round, the queen of skiing, now at the head of 96 World Cup victories, achieved the best time in the second round and beat Croatian Zrinka Ljutic (+ 1′’24) and the Swiss Michelle Gisin (+ 1′’34).
Mikaela Shiffrin, who remained away from the slopes for many weeks after falling heavily at the end of January during the descent of Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy, lost none of her glide during this period.
His return is therefore synonymous with a double blow.
His victory in the Are slalom, the last race before the World Cup finals in Saalbach (Austria), allowed him to win the crystal globe of the discipline.
With 730 points in the specialty, Shiffrin is now more than 200 points ahead of her rivals and is therefore uncatchable, whatever happens during the finals in Austria, scheduled for March 16 to 24.
In the general classification, the five-time winner of the big globe is still mathematically in the race for a sixth coronation, with 345 points behind Swiss leader Lara Gut-Behrami.
But Shiffrin announced on Friday that she was giving up the speed, downhill and super-G events during the finals and will therefore not be able to catch up with the Swiss in the general classification.
The Alpine Skiing World Cup continues on March 16 in Saalbach, Austria.