SALZBURG, Austria — After suffering two major crashes in consecutive seasons one that triggered PTSD and a sharp fall in ranking points, American ski star Mikaela Shiffrin is approaching the upcoming Olympic season with renewed optimism.
“My confidence is improving; overall, I feel more at ease,” Shiffrin told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Still, she isn’t ready to return to downhill racing and may also skip super-G events as she opts for a lighter World Cup schedule before the Milan-Cortina Olympics. Instead, Shiffrin plans to focus mainly on slalom and giant slalom her strongest disciplines while possibly adding one super-G start later in the year. She confirmed there is “no chance” of competing in downhill this season, and super-G will remain off her calendar until at least mid-December.
The World Cup season begins Oct. 25 with a women’s giant slalom on an Austrian glacier, followed by the men’s race the next day.
Though she has done some super-G training this offseason, Shiffrin said she needs more practice before returning to that event. She has penciled in a possible comeback race in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Dec. 14.
“If things go well, we’ll consider continuing; if not, I’ll wait until after the Olympics,” she said.
While slalom and GS have always been her specialties, nine of Shiffrin’s record 101 World Cup wins have come in speed events five in super-G and four in downhill. She hasn’t raced in those disciplines since a knee injury in a downhill crash at Cortina d’Ampezzo in January 2024, and her last super-G appearance was in December 2023, when she failed to finish in Val d’Isere, France.
Before this season, Shiffrin had already ruled out downhill races but intended to compete in select super-G events. However, a giant slalom crash in Killington, Vermont, last November caused a deep side puncture and serious oblique muscle damage, forcing her to limit her races.
Even with the setback, she returned two months later, winning her 100th and 101st career races and earning a world championship gold medal in the team combined with Breezy Johnson. Shiffrin also spent months battling PTSD after her crash but said she finally began to “feel like myself again” while racing giant slalom toward the end of the season.
Over the summer, she and her team placed extra focus on GS training.
“I’ve made GS a top priority, getting in as many runs as possible definitely more than in previous years,” she said.
Now entering her 14th season at the top level with five overall titles, eight slalom season titles, and two Olympic golds Shiffrin admitted that nerves still come with experience.
“I still get butterflies, maybe even more now,” she said. “I know how hard it is to succeed and how much I want it. But I also feel like there’s still more potential in my skiing and that’s what drives me right now.”
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