★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★
★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★
≡ SHIFFRIN’S STRUGGLE ≡
On 30 November, during the Giant Slalom at the FIS women’s World Cup in Killington, Vermont, American superstar Mikaela Shiffrin – who has won more World Cup races than anyone in history – suffered a bad crash.
A puncture wound on the right side of her abdomen – apparently from one of her poles – eventually required surgery to prevent further damage, but she recovered enough to come back to racing on 30 January in a Slalom at Courchevel (FRA), finishing 10th.
But she’s not ready to try the Giant Slalom again so soon and has withdrawn from this event at the Worlds in Austria – in which she is the defending champion – and explained in a post on X, reprinted in full here:
“I’ve poured all of my energy into getting my giant slalom in shape to be prepared to start World Champs GS in Saalbach on Thursday. The long- story-short is…I’m not there. Right now, I feel quite far away. I’m currently working through some mental obstacles in order to return to the GS start with the intensity required for racing.
“Honestly, I really didn’t anticipate experiencing so much of this kind of mental/PTSD struggle in GS from my injury in Killington. Like always, I tried diving into the challenge, hoping to get there by Worlds. I figured my passion and longing to compete would outweigh the mental barriers. Maybe that will be the case over time, but I’m not there yet. Coming to terms with how much fear I have doing an event that I loved so dearly only 2 months ago has been soul- crushing.
“One of my teammates – who knows this experience well – said that the only thing you can do is keep trying. So that’s what I will do.
“Since we have now realized that the GS is not in the cards just yet, that re-opens up the opportunity for me to join my teammates in the Team Combined. I’d feel lucky and grateful to partner with any of my incredible speed teammates – and our coaches have now informed us that Breezy[Johnson] and I will paired together for the event.
“To be continued…”
The second part came minutes later:
“After becoming World Champion in downhill Saturday, Breezy told me ‘If you want to do the [Team Combined], I would be honored to pair with you. Not because of the medal, but because this sport is crazy fun, and it would be fun to bring it full circle after all these years.’ What a wise woman. Breezy and I have been racing together since we were 11. We were at Whistler Cup and Topolino together.
“We’ve been roommates, competitors, friends. And she’s right…it will be so so cool to bring this full circle. What a journey she has been on…she knows the mental challenges of this sport better than anyone. She has fought tooth and nail to get here, and now she is World Champion…her journey and grit and determination has inspired the heck out of me. I’m so honored to partner with her on our little Team Atomic (*USA) for my first start of Saalbach 2025.”
Tuesday’s women’s Team Combined, with one Downhill skier and one Slalom skier and the U.S. will enter four women’s teams:
● USA Team 1: Breezy Johnson (Downhill) & Mikaela Shiffrin (Slalom)
● USA Team 2: Lauren Macuga (Downhill) & Paula Moltzan (Slalom)
● USA Team 3: Lindsey Vonn (Downhill) & AJ Hurt (Slalom)
● USA Team 4: Jackie Wiles (Downhill) & Katie Hensien (Slalom)
Shiffrin owns the Slalom event, with 62 World Cup wins and World Championships golds in 2013-15-17-19 and a 2021 gold in the individual Combined. She and Johnson – both 29 – will be one of the favorites for medals, but Macuga and Moltzan are also not to be underestimated.
The Downhill will start at 10:00 a.m. local time in Saalbach, followed by the Slalom at 1:15 p.m.; Austria is six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern time.
The men’s Team Combined comes on Tuesday; Shiffrin will compete again in the Slalom on Saturday.
¶
★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.
For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
