She's Back... Shiffrin Wins In Are, Clinches Slalom Crystal Globe

Mikaela Shiffrin of the Stifel U.S. Ski Team made a dramatic return to the World Cup, winning the slalom in Åre, Sweden by 1.24 seconds and clinching a record-tying eighth career slalom Crystal Globe.

Shiffrin had not competed since the end of January when she crashed in the downhill at Cortina d’Ampezzo, straining her meniscus. Since then, she has worked relentlessly over the last six weeks to get her knee ready to race again. She announced just prior to Åre that she would just be skiing the slalom and skipping the giant slalom.

“Everything was so day by day and step by step,” said Shiffrin after the race. “If I thought about the future, even it was a week from that point, I would just start panicking. Even last week, we weren’t sure if I could ski either of these races, even just the slalom. It was important to stay in the right mind in the moment.”

She had a strong run out of the start on the first run to finish first and didn’t take anything off in the second run, skiing aggressively in a fast tempo course to win by more than a second.

“There has been so much uncertainty coming into this race,” said Shiffrin. “The biggest goal I had was good skiing in the final races of the season. To have the chance to do that again before the season was over felt so important so I could prove that I have the right pace and right mentality to close out the season, so next year I start in a better place. That was really important to me.”

Shiffrin beat out Zrinka Ljutic of Croatia, who finished second. Michelle Gisin of Switzerland was third.

The win clinched Shiffrin’s eighth Crystal Globe in slalom, tying her with Lindsey Vonn and Ingemar Stenmark, who also hold eight discipline Globes. Stenmark’s are in giant slalom and slalom, while Vonn’s are in downhill. Marcel Hirscher also has eight overall Crystal Globe.

Despite being out for injury for six weeks, Shiffrin only missed one slalom World Cup. Out of the 10 possible slalom races, she won six, had one second place and one fourth to capture her 16th total Globe.

Åre is a treasured place for Shiffrin, hosting many of her best moments in her career. It was the site of her first World Cup win when she was 17. She won the gold medal in slalom there at the 2019 World Championships. And she became the winningest alpine skier of all time last season when she won her 87th career World Cup at the same venue. 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.

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.”

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 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.

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.