all things mikaela

[dougtee]

she is getting close to being fully back? one bad mistake from gold and still on the podium

[jbotti]

I love your optimism, but we should see her in slalom and GS before we say the issues are over. Racing SG is a very different endeavor.

[jbotti]

She won Gold in the Alpine Combined. She had the second fastest time in the SG and had the fastest time in the slalom, over a half second faster than Vhlova and almost a second faster than Gisin. Liensberger for some reason did not race (maybe uncomfortable with SG or maybe she is injured and I don't remember). I have not watched the race yet but this is quite positive. One thing is for sure, big stages bring out the best in great racers. And this is a huge stage.

Results:
https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/general/resu ... eid=104424

Marco Schwarz won the men's AC. Pinturault was second.

https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/general/resu ... eid=104428

[dougtee]

watching mikaelas skis vs the packs was very illuminating. she truly was on another level in that slalom run. even then i think she had to these untrained eyes one mistake

[dougtee]

think mikaela will rue this one as a missed opportunity, but the real brutality of watching this was seeing nina o'brien go from her first podium to well off the pace in the final easiest section. one moment of broken concentration is a tough lesson to learn.

[jbotti]

Mikaela took Bronze in the slalom. Her competition has surely improved but Liensberger beat her by almost 2 seconds. I haven’t watched it yet but assuming Shiffrin made no major mistakes, I think we can say she is not back yet. Let’s remember that it was Mikaela that was beating the second place finisher by seconds in the past.

On the positive she medaled in 4 events with one gold and one silver. And of course it’s been a brutal year for her emotionally and mentally.

[dougtee]

https://usskiandsnowboard.org/news/letter-olympic-and-world-champion-shiffrin-thank-you-cortina-2021

mikaela addresses how disappointed she was in her slalom performance and states that she didnt think it was indicative even of where she is even at present. hopefully just a bad day (still bronze!) for her with brighter golden ones to come

[dougtee]

that one had to feel good. vintage mikaela making up a ton of time in the part of the course no one else seemed to be able to do anything but tread water on.

[jbotti]

Mikaela finished 3rd at Are today beaten by both Vhlova and Liensberger in slalom. Are is pretty flat and in years past when Shiffrin was truly dominant Vhlova did beat her here. Having said that, it's unclear if the competition has risen to Mikaela's level or whether she is just not the same skier she once was (coming off her time away from the sport and complete lack of motivation). I think it's some of both, but I do think that the competition is much better than it was. Vhlova is very tough and Liensberger is sneaky fast and an excellent racer (especially in slalom) and Gisin on a good day has podium speed (and has won).

I don't think we will know for sure until next season assuming Mikaela trains hard and vows to come back and dominate.

https://skiracing.com/vlhova-wins-are-s ... ffrin-3rd/

[VAskier]

Or maybe she'll stop skiing competitively, have more time to practice guitar and singing, and [s]crossover[/s]* "flex-to-release" to a career in music!





*What, no strikethrough allowed?

[jbotti]

Liensberger won the slalom today beating Mikaela by 1.24 seconds. Right now she (Lienseberger) is the fastest slalom skier in the world. This could be great motivation for Mikaela because if she wants her mantle back as the dominant technical skier she is going to have to work her ass off this off season (which of course she knows how to do).

Next season should be great. Women's tech is loaded with talent as are the speed events.

[HighAngles]

Katharina seems to ski with such freedom. I wonder whether she will be able to continue to do so next season after having such a successful season. There will be new expectations and pressures going in that she hadn't had to deal with previously.

For MS, the "healing season" is just about over. I think what she was able to accomplish given having much less pre-season prep was fantastic. I expect to see her come back firing on all cylinders for next season. Should be a fun one to watch.

[jbotti]

Good point. I think the pressure is real for many or perhaps all. Hopefully she doesn't make the big error that we saw Brignone make this year in her decision to ski every event in an attempt to repeat as overall champ. Her season was pretty much a disaster and she skied nothing particularly well (including GS), and was fried half through the season. I expect that she will return next year focusing on GS and SG with an occasional downhill (when the course favors her style). Since I can't remember seeing Liensberger in even a SG, I hope and expect that she will just ski technical events and I am sure she will work in the off season to try and bring her GS up to her slalom level.

I did hear Steve Porino mention yesterday that MS had groused some about the increasingly very straight course sets in slalom. Porino mentioned that Mikaela's advantage is neutralized in straighter courses and that in fact some of the girls (Liensberger in particular) are much more comfortable with the faster speeds in straight courses than Shiffrin. I sure hope she doesn't do what Kristofferson has done, where he is mentally psyched out of every GS course because he has spent so much time complaining about the straighter sets. And of the course sets are straighter to specifically attack any perceived weakness in Shiffrin's skiing. There is only one thing to do when course sets are posing a challenge, learn to ski fast on the straight sets and absolutely stop complaining about it. I fully expect that this is what Mikaela will do in the off season.

I guess lastly, for a mere mortal Mikaela still had a heluva season, with 4 medals at the Worlds, 3 victories and a bunch of podiums. Clearly we all hope and expect a return to superhuman status next year!

[Marc]

Yeah, they should stop whining, like Stenmark did when they changed the rules for the overall.

[dougtee]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/olympic-skier-mikaela-shiffrins-comeback-started-with-workouts-in-her-garage-11616234400

a bit flulffy but get some insight how Mikaela DIYs some exercises in a hotel room