Shiffrin amazes yet again, with dominant comeback victory in Åre: ‘I’m in a dream right now’

Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) wrote another remarkable chapter of her illustrious career with a triumphant return to World Cup racing on a glorious day in Åre, Sweden.

In absolute supreme fashion – after sitting out six weeks of racing while rehabilitating a knee injury since suffering a nasty downhill crash in Cortina d’Ampezzo on January 26 – Shiffrin locked up her eighth career World Cup slalom title.

The American superstar was fastest in the opening slalom run – while admitting manageable pain persists – and then hammered home her second run on the Störtloppsbacken piste to claim her 96th World Cup victory. Shiffrin’s blazing second run, attacking ideal slope conditions, earned her a resounding 1.24-second margin of victory over Zrinka Ljutic (CRO). Her two-run winning time was 1:42.95.

Shiffrin was bubbly and talkative shortly after her 59th career World Cup slalom win.

“It was so nice to race again today and some nerves, and all the emotions I hoped to feel – I’m really proud of my whole team and for sure proud of myself to get back here and show my skiing,” Shiffrin said. “The second run was some of my best skiing, so I’m so happy to be able to do that again this season.”

Shiffrin was fastest among the field in both the first and second runs. She brought a 0.02-second advantage over Michelle Gisin (SUI)  into the afternoon finale.

“I felt great with my first run skiing and I thought if I can be just a little more clean it will feel better, also on the knee, so this (second) run I wouldn’t change anything,” she said.

Asked point-blank if she is still experiencing knee pain, Shiffrin said: “Yes, but its manageable. I feel like I can ski really well right now.”

It seems apropos that Shiffrin’s latest astounding achievement, equalling Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark’s eight career World Cup slalom crowns, transpired in Åre.

The Swedish resort, with its spectacular view of the frozen Indalsälven River below, was also the setting for Shiffrin’s first career World Cup victory in December 2012, her record-breaking 87th World Cup triumph in March 2023, and where she claimed her fourth consecutive and most recent slalom world title in 2019.

Additionally, it was Shiffrin’s seventh World Cup win in Åre (six slalom, one giant slalom), which equals the seven career wins she has also attained in Courchevel, Levi and Semmering.

While Shiffrin looked like she never missed a beat on Sunday at the Swedish resort, she confessed there was certainly plenty of doubt.

“There has been so much uncertainty coming into this race – the biggest goal I had was just to ski good skiing in the final races of the season,” Shiffrin admitted. “Just to have the chance to do that again before the season is over, it felt so important so I can prove that I have the right pace and the right mentality to close out the season.

“We weren’t sure it would work and now we look back at this, my whole team - everybody is like ‘oh my gosh, you’ve got to be kidding me'. I’m in a dream right now.”

Shiffrin also equalled the record for most World Cup classification wins in a specific discipline: eight by Ingemar Stenmark (slalom and giant slalom) and Lindsey Vonn (downhill). Marcel Hirscher won the men's overall World Cup standings eight times.

A trifecta of second-place finishes for Ljutic

Ljutic sat in third after the morning run, trailing Shiffrin by only 0.11 seconds and .09s behind Gisin (SUI). The 20-year-old Croatian rising talent overtook Gisin in the afternoon run to attain her third consecutive career World Cup second-place finish.

“It was a great day. I was really happy with my first run and I tried to really charge in my second run and I think I did well,” Ljutic said. “Of course there are some things I can do better, but I won second place and I’m really proud of that.”

Asked what specifically she can improve upon, the Croatian said: “I think it comes with more experience. Maybe I could let go a bit more, invest a bit more.

“Third podium in a row – I would not believe in the beginning of the season, that I could do that. Something has really clicked this season and I’m more than happy.

Ljutic said she is eagerly looking forward to concluding her highly successful season at World Cup Finals in Saalbach next weekend, where she’ll race both slalom and GS.

Gisin continues her consistent ways

Despite posting just the 20th-fastest second run, Gisin narrowly managed to hang on to third place, just .01 second ahead of fourth-place finisher Lena Duerr (GER) and .02s ahead of local favourite Anna Swenn Larsson, who took fifth on home snow.

The 30-year-old Swiss veteran nabbed her 9th career World Cup slalom podium, but still only owns one victory. Gisin has been the mark of consistency in the discipline this season, finishing top ten in each of her last eight World Cup slaloms.

“It’s been an incredible slalom season. I would never had thought of that but I’m very glad. I was very lucky today, with Lena and Anna being so close behind.”

Gisin conceded that Åre hasn’t been her favourite tour stop in the past, but Sunday’s near-perfect piste and weather conditions, and of course her result, may change things moving forward.

“Today, it was amazing,” she said. “The course was great, the slope was really good. And especially even yesterday for the GS. They prepared it all very well.

“Maybe I will fall in love with Åre someday. I’m quite old in skier’s terms, but I’ll be back.”

The tour now moves southbound to the Audi FIS Ski World Cup Finals in Saalbach, Austria, with the women facing one last slalom and GS on March 16-17. They’ll then cap off the season with one final super-G and downhill, March 22-23.

In a rare slalom appearance, Federica Brignone (ITA) picked up a few World Cup points with a 27th-place finish on Sunday. Heading into the final four races of the 2023/24 season, Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI) maintains a sizeable 282-point lead over Brignone and appears en route to a second career overall World Cup title.

Click here for Åre slalom results
Click here for World Cup slalom standings
Click here for overall World Cup standings