An Uncharacteristic Fall For Mikaela Shiffrin
It has been just shy of a year since the last time American super skier and Slalom expert Mikaela Shiffrin ended a race day with a DNF. Luckily, even though this DNF was because of a fall, the young skier is okay and still on top.
Yesterday, Sunday, January 12, the women of the World Cup circuit were in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria. In this case for an Alpine Combined event, in which Shiffrin was the favorite. However, the young superstar caught an edge just before entering a bumpy turn. This caused her to go down in the turn.
“It was not a very exciting crash, but that’s OK for me,” Shiffrin joked in the finish. "I was really looking forward to skiing the whole course—I was really excited to ski that turn and see how it felt. I almost made it all the way through that turn, but the bottom of the course looked really nice and a little bit of a challenge too, which is always exciting. The slalom looked like it would be really nice to ski, so it’s always a bummer when the day’s cut short like that, but that’s ski racing.”
She was able to return to her feet, however, and did not suffer any injuries. Even with this DNF she still maintains the overall lead in points with 826, a 261 point lead over Federica Brignone of Italy. Shiffrin also holds the points lead in Slalom with 380 points, which a 120 point lead over her only rival in Slalom, Slovak skier Petra Vlhova. It should be noted that Vlhova also had a DNF for this same Alpine Combined event.
Naturally, there were winners crowned for Alpine Combined yesterday. Federica Brignone, though second overall, is now leading the Alpine Combined points race after taking first place yesterday. In second-place was Swiss racer Wendy Holdener, with third-place going to Brignone's teammate Marta Bassino. All three women have had podium appearances this season in other disciplines.
Thumbnail Credit: U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team/FB
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