Returning Shiffrin buoyant after 'miraculous' fifth in slalom

Saalbach, Austria: Mikaela Shiffrin might have missed out on a medal that would have made her the most decorated alpine skier ever, but the US star was buoyant after what she dubbed her “miraculous” fifth place in the slalom on Saturday.

Shiffrin had finished third fastest in the first leg to remain on course to surpass Christl Cranz, who competed for Germany in the 1930s, with both locked on 15 world championships medals.

But it was not to be, as she finished fifth behind US teammate Paula Moltzan in a race won by Switzerland´s Camille Rast, with another Swiss Wendy Holdener taking silver and Austrian Katharina Liensberger claiming bronze.

“Actually, I didn´t realise I was so close to the podium,” said Shiffrin.

“Today was just right in line with my expectations and I thought ´Oh, thank you´.”

Shiffrin touched down in Saalbach having made her comeback at last month´s Courchevel slalom from a nasty injury.

Realistically, she had but an outside chance of a medal after two months sidelined with an abdominal puncture wound that required surgery.

There was, however, a surprise gold last Tuesday as she partnered newly-crowned downhill champion Breezy Johnson to victory in the team combined after announcing she would not defend her giant slalom title given her fear of racing that discipline in the wake of her crash.

Shiffrin said her slalom skiing at the Austrian resort on Saturday had been “twice as good” as it had been in Courchevel.

“It is really, really awesome progress,” she said.

“It´s a strange place to be: returning from an injury, from surgery eight weeks ago, from laying in bed with the drainage up to six weeks ago, to return midseason in the middle of world championships where everybody is talking about the medals.

“All the other athletes are fighting and on their top form and I´m trying to figure out where I even stand in the sport.”

- Learning experience -

Shiffrin, who has a record 99 World Cup victories, said her comeback had been “one of the biggest learning experiences” of her storied career.

“I think it will continue through the end of the season but, for now, this was a huge step forward and somehow actually we´re walking away from world championships with another gold medal, together with Breezy.”

Shiffrin insisted that missing out on moving past Cranz as best overall world medal winner was not on her mind.

“Sometimes you´re on the good side of the hundredths and sometimes you´re on the wrong side of the hundredths and that´s the sport,” she said.

“But the women who skied top skiing today won the medals and that is how it should be.

“That was beautiful to watch. It feels almost miraculous that we were even part of it and that we´re here and racing.

“It´s still a step-by-step process. I´m proud of the things we´ve done right and I´m learning from the things that I can do better.”

Shiffrin acknowledged that while she was not consistently hitting her “vibe of top, top slalom skiing”, the next step was time and training.

“It´s trying to figure out how to connect the sort of consistency and sections together,” she said.

“Also, it was a really long course. So for me, being kind of almost bedridden for three weeks, did not help my fitness, so when I was coming down the final pitch today, I was like ´Oh no!´.

“We´ve done a pretty incredible job. I´m strong, I think the anaerobic endurance is coming, but it just takes time.

“It will be a continued recovery through the rest of the season.”

Racing GS is on the cards, Shiffrin said, and could come at the Italian resort of Sestriere next weekend, when she has a tilt at a 100th World Cup victory with giant slaloms scheduled for Friday and Saturday, and a slalom on Sunday.

“I think I can get there to the point that my GS skiing is good enough that I can race without it being dangerous,” she said.

“We got a couple more days of training and then we´ll get there and we´ll see how it goes.”