Because of Kilde’s bad fall
Shiffrin breaks down in tears after victory
January 16, 2024, 10:37 p.m
Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates one of her most emotional victories: two days earlier, the ski queen was sitting at the bedside of her friend Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who had suffered a serious fall, and now she can’t hold back her tears in Flachau. Lena Dürr clearly missed the podium.
Mikaela Shiffrin was fighting a losing battle. When the ski queen accepted the congratulations from her rival Petra Vlhova after her 94th World Cup victory at the night slalom in Flachau, she was able to hold back her emotions, but a few moments later the American finally burst out.
“They were very challenging days,” reported Shiffrin (28) with tears and a broken voice. Just two days earlier, she had been sitting at the bedside of her friend Aleksander Aamodt Kilde in Bern, who had suffered a serious fall, and after that she was “really freaked out.” But despite all the worries and only “little sleep,” she won the long-term duel with Vlhova by 0.27 seconds.
Lena Dürr was also among those defeated, whose mini-series came to an abrupt end after two second places. 15th place, 3.37 seconds behind – the World Cup third place hasn’t been worse placed in 14 months. At the finish, she looked at the scoreboard in complete shock and shook her head in consternation when she took off her skis.
Dürr was “missing something”
“I can’t even say what the problem was, I couldn’t get into it at all,” said Dürr, who had driven too cautiously in the first run, but was still doing well in the race in seventh place. “Somehow,” Dürr confessed, “it didn’t work.”
Not even in the final, although the 32-year-old didn’t make any visible mistakes. But Dürr, who has already been on the “Stockerl” four times this winter, seemed to be driving with the handbrake on. “I couldn’t change it, you put your boot down knowing it’s wrong,” she said: “It happens, it happens quickly in the slalom.”
What was it about? At least not because of the material, she emphasized. Rather, she was surprised by the unusually hard slope. “If something doesn’t fit together somewhere, it’s difficult for me to drive the momentum the way I want to drive it. Today it seemed like something was missing, whatever.”
This was even more true for Emma Aicher, Jessica Hilzinger and Andrea Filser, who all missed the final. It was completely different for Shiffrin, who achieved 4:3 victories in the duel with the Slovakian Vlhova after seven races this season. With her 81st podium finish in the slalom, she also set another record set by ski legend Ingemar Stenmark. But her thoughts were with her darling Aleks.