Industry News
Mikaela Shiffrin returned to the World Cup circuit over the weekend, for the first time since her father’s death, covid-19, and then an injury put her career on hold.
She finished second at the FIS Ski World Cup slalom in Levi, Finland on Saturday, and fifth in the slalom the following day. But most importantly, she enjoyed it.
“I think a good thing was that a lot of the feeling today was similar to what I felt in the past. Maybe that means I didn’t lose it all—my ability to ski fast or to try to be strong and come back and be hungry and competitive. One of the big reasons I wanted to come back and race was to see if this was something I could still do. And we’re here and it was okay. I still enjoyed it. That’s good.”
– Mikaela Shiffrin
Saturday’s slalom in Levi was Mikaela’s first race since her last win in Bankso, Bulgaria, on January 26, 2020. Shortly after that, her father sadly passed away, and she took a leave of absence to be with her family. When she was ready to race again, the world was firmly in the grip of covid-19, canceling the rest of the FIS season. She then suffered a minor injury just before the opening weekend of this year’s circuit, forcing her to sit out the giant slalom in Soelden.
Mikaela finished second to Slovakian rival Petra Vlhova on Saturday, who also took first on Sunday. Either Mikaela or Petra has won the last 27 World Cup slaloms – that’s every World Cup slalom since 2017.
Next up, the men and the women head to Lech, Austria for parallel races November 26-27.
