Saalbach (Austria) (AFP) – Mikaela Shiffrin will not defend her giant slalom title at the World Ski Championships this week. But the 29-year-old American, making her comeback from an abdominal puncture injury, will compete in the women’s team combined on Tuesday alongside newly-crowned world downhill champion Breezy Johnson. Shiffrin is also expected to compete in the slalom as she bids to add to her overall world tally of 14 medals — including seven gold — from 16 career world championship races.
Here, AFP Sport chronicles Shiffrin’s performances at previous world championships:
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– **2013 Schladming** – Races: slalom (1); giant slalom (6)
After making her World Cup debut in March 2011 just a few weeks before her 16th birthday, Shiffrin claimed her first podium in December of the same year and won her first World Cup race in December 2012 at the age of 17. Shiffrin won slalom gold at her first world championships, two days after finishing sixth in the giant slalom. “It’s been 17 years in the making. Everyone says it comes so fast but it seems like it’s been forever for me,” she said after her win in Schladming.
– **2015 Vail/Beaver Creek** – Races: slalom (1); giant slalom (8)
Still a teenager, Shiffrin defended her slalom title, after coming in eighth in the giant. She attacked home snow having notched up a dozen World Cup wins and with an Olympic gold medal from Sochi under her belt. “I am half bear,” she joked of her napping for an hour between runs in unseasonably warm temperatures.
– **2017 St Moritz** – Races: slalom (1); giant slalom (2)
Shiffrin sealed a third consecutive world slalom title and also bagged a GS silver. It was a turning point for the 21-year-old, who vowed “no limits” as she announced her targeting the super-G and downhill in her quest for global domination. “I have a lot of goals there and hopefully some day I’d like to win in super-G and downhill, but that’ll take some time before I can do that consistently, so it’s definitely a long road for me,” she said.
– **2019 Are** – Races: slalom (1): giant slalom (3); super-G (1)
Shiffrin arrived in Sweden a season after her botched defence of her Olympic title at the Pyeongchang Games, where she did however claim giant slalom gold. She kicked off proceedings by making good on her move up to the speed disciplines, winning gold in the super-G. “This is crazy!” was her reaction. In a great champs, she also defended her slalom title for the fourth time and took bronze in the GS.
– **2021 Cortina d’Ampezzo** – Races: slalom (3); giant slalom (2); super-G (3); combined (1)
The Cortina worlds came a year after her father Jeff died unexpectedly. Shiffrin immediately returned home to Colorado and spent more than 300 days off the piste, albeit in a season cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic. It was a year, she said, that felt “like it lasted 20 years”. She rebounded in Cortina with style: a four-medal showing, including one gold in the alpine combined although she was unable to continue her dominance in the slalom. Her medal haul saw her become the US skier with most world titles (six) and world medals (11), overtaking Ted Ligety and Lindsey Vonn respectively. “It’s incredible,” Shiffrin admitted. “I had planned for four races and I thought ‘OK that’s four chances for a medal’. I’m really proud of so much of the skiing I did.”
– **2023 Courchevel/Meribel** – Races: slalom (2); giant slalom (1); super-G (2); combined (DSQ)
By her own high standards, Shiffrin enjoyed a miserable 2022 Beijing Olympics, failing to finish the slalom, giant slalom and alpine combined events — three events in which she had been a keen favourite. After what she dubbed that “epic under-performance”, Shiffrin again rebounded on the world stage, claiming a first-ever GS title to go along with two more silvers. You have to “push for medals because that’s what you do at a world champs”, she said. “You wear your heart on your sleeve and you go for it, I’m not afraid of the consequences as long as I have that (attacking) mentality.”
© 2024 AFP
