World Cup dream bursts in front of the goal
Shiffrin’s misfire brings back bad memories
2/6/2023, 7:42 p.m
Will Beijing Olympics Drama Be Repeated? The ski queen Mikaela Shiffrin, who was once again overpowering this winter, was eliminated from the first World Cup competition while on course for gold. Federica Brignone from Italy surprisingly becomes the new world champion.
Mikaela Shiffrin smiled in disbelief, bravely waved at the audience and made every effort to make a good face for the bad game. When she first reached for gold at the World Championships in France, the skiing queen immediately brought back memories of the drama in Beijing a year ago, when she had flown home from the Olympics without a medal: already clearly on course for gold, the defending champion in alpine combination was eliminated after a threader three goals from the goal. A very bitter dropout. The new world champion is Federica Brignone from Italy. Emma Aicher took a respectable eighth place.
“Of course it’s disappointing not to finish,” said Shiffrin, who was 0.96 seconds behind Brignone after the Super-G, on ZDF. “But I’m glad,” she added, “that I drove so aggressively. I had to take the risk, it’s a World Cup.” She brushed off a question about the Olympics. “Oh no,” said Shiffrin, who wants to start in Meribel in Super-G, giant slalom and slalom.
After the Super-G in the morning and a slalom run in the afternoon, Wendy Holdener (Switzerland/+1.62 seconds), world champion from 2017 and 2019, and Ricarda Haaser (Austria/+2.62) drove to Brignone on the podium. Emma Aicher, the great German skiing talent, achieved the best combined result at a World Cup since Maria Höfl-Riesch won in 2013. who gave a better result in the Super-G: She drove too timidly.
“It was a perfect day for me”
When Shiffrin crossed the finish line a few minutes before Aicher, the green “1” lit up in front of her name, but Brignone knew: This time the gold is mine. The failed title defender immediately headed for the Olympic third place, after a short small talk the old world champion congratulated the new one with a “fist bump”. “She said: You put me under a lot of pressure,” reported Brignone, adding: “It was a perfect day for me. I’m happy and grateful, I was missing a gold medal in my career.”
But how similar the pictures were: At the Olympics, Shiffrin was eliminated in the first run after seven goals in the giant slalom that was initially scheduled. Then came real drama. In her head, Shiffrin said after her arrival in Meribel, those sad days are “still a bit” in there, so she is “prepared to do my best – and still not win a medal”. That is possible, she could be eliminated in any race. “But”, don’t worry, “I don’t expect it.” However, the first competition went wrong before.