Shiffrin postpones World Cup speed debut

By Published On: December 17th, 2014Comments Off on Shiffrin postpones World Cup speed debut
Mikaela Shiffrin fields questions from the media at the Aspen World Cup. GEPA

Mikaela Shiffrin fields questions from the media at the Aspen World Cup. GEPA

American teenage phenom Mikaela Shiffrin has decided to postpone her debut in a third World Cup discipline, which originally was set to take place this coming weekend with the super G in Val d’Isere, France. Shiffrin competed in two super G races at Copper Mountain, Colo., in November in order to be eligible to race at the World Cup in time for Val d’Isere, a course coaches thought would suit her technical ability.

The end goal, of course, is for Shiffrin to have a crack at the super G podium at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships set to take place in her hometown of Vail-Beaver Creek this February. But after a head-turning tie for the victory at the opening World Cup race of the season in Soelden, Austria, Shiffrin’s results in her primary discipline of slalom and now also giant slalom have not come as easily or consistently as in previous seasons.

The defending World Champion, Olympic gold medalist, and slalom globe winner has yet to set foot on a World Cup podium this season in the discipline, coming a close fourth most recently in Are, Sweden. She also has struggled to reproduce a GS result similar to that from Soelden. Although the world championship Raptor super G in Beaver Creek seems to be a course tailored to Shiffrin’s usually solid technical style, the rush to be prepared to win in three disciplines by February may prove too much for the still young skier who has built a career out of focusing on quality training over chasing races.

Shiffrin is still set to compete in the slalom and giant slalom races in Semmering, Austria, on Dec. 28 and 29.

Share This Article

About the Author: SR Staff Report