Ski superstar wins overall World Cup
Shiffrin triumphs and becomes extremely emotional
03/17/2022, 12:08 p.m
For skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin, the alpine season has a happy ending. After her Olympic fiasco, the American wins the overall World Cup. After second place in the Super-G, she can no longer be ousted from the lead in the battle for the big crystal globe before the final races.
Mikaela Shiffrin hid her eyes behind mirrored sunglasses, she held her right hand in front of her mouth – but the 27-year-old couldn’t hide her great feelings. With the early victory in the overall World Cup, she managed to end a turbulent winter on a conciliatory note after the Olympic fiasco. The success was “very special. This season there were many moments that were great, wonderful. But there were also these moments when I was lower than ever in my career. I felt so much weight and collapsed “Shiffrin said after second place in Super-G at the World Cup final.
In the meantime everything felt “so hopeless”, Shiffrin added emotionally on ZDF. But the people around her “always get me back on track”. After the tragic death of father Jeff, there is first and foremost mother Eileen. In the many difficult phases, she also found a lot of support from her friend Aleksander Aamodt Kilde. Shiffrin, beaming with joy and relaxed, hugged the racer from Norway, who was already the winner of the small crystal ball in the Super-G and who finished fourth in Courchevel.
Shiffrin was clearly relieved after she had come to the World Cup final “under pressure”. Everyone knew “I wanted to win this big ball,” she said. And unlike Beijing, where she couldn’t handle the heavy load, Shiffrin withstood the pressure in impressive fashion. After Wednesday’s victory in the downhill – her 74th in the World Cup – she was just behind Ragnhild Mowinckel in the Super-G. Before the slalom and giant slalom at the weekend, the lead over her big rival Petra Vlhova from Slovakia is an unassailable 236 points.
Weidle is currently “a bit at a loss”
The Slovakian congratulated Shiffrin fairly. “I’m not really disappointed,” said Vlhova. She’s happy for Shiffrin, “after the Olympic Games she was definitely a bit down. I have Olympic gold and a small ball – now she has the big ball.” It is Shiffrin’s fourth overall victory in the World Cup after 2017, 2018 and 2019. The finale went less well for Kira Weidle. Plagued by back problems, she ended the season in 20th place – and with some frustration. The season was “a rollercoaster of emotions,” said the 26-year-old: “There were things that were good and other things that weren’t so good – they have to be changed next year”. She is currently “a bit at a loss. A lot of things went wrong.”
As with the German speed drivers who experienced a mixed winter. At the end of the Super-G, places 15, 19 and 21 (last) for Andreas Sander, Josef Ferstl and Romed Baumann fitted well into the picture with Vincent Kriechmayr winning.