Let\u2019s keep this in perspective, a bronze medal at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships is not a failure.<\/p>\n
This should be obvious, but reading assorted coverage of Thursday\u2019s giant slalom in Are,\u00a0Sweden, one might think Mikaela Shiffrin might have straddled a gate and DNF\u2019d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMikaela Shiffrin\u2019s careful planning didn\u2019t pay off in the giant slalom at the world championships as the American had to settle for a bronze medal behind winner Petra Vlhova, of Slovakia,\u201d The Associated Press wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cMikaela Shiffrin settles for bronze medal in GS at world championships,\u201d The Denver Post ran as a headline.<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s address all of this a la The McLaughlin Group<\/p>\n Thursday was nasty \u2026 in a weird way. After arctic temperatures last week in Sweden, it was in the 40s and raining, pushing back the start times of both runs. That affected Shiffrin, particularly on her first run where she had to be cautious as she was the second racer out of the gate. If she charges in that first run on unknown snow conditions, there\u2019s a good chance she does DNF.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve often talked about how Bode Miller is a more apt comparison for Shiffrin than Lindsey Vonn since Shiffrin comes from tech not speed. But we should modify this. Shiffrin is Miller with a better awareness of the situation. As much as his fans loved his skiing by the seat of pants, Miller\u2019s flaw was he was too aggressive and would have DNF\u2019d in the situation.<\/p>\n Prudence was the order of the day to give herself a shot in the second run. It almost worked. Sitting in fourth, two of the racers in front of Shiffrin, Germany\u2019s Viktoria Rebensburg and Norway\u2019s Ragnhild Mowinckel, did have bad second runs. Shiffrin gained time on Rebensburg and passed Mowinckel. France\u2019s Tess Worley never really got going in either run and finished fifth.<\/p>\n For a while, Petra Vlhova looked like she had made an exceptionally bad mistake hitting a gate midway through her run. It just turned out that the Slovakian had the better line by hitting a gate. Who knew?<\/p>\n Vlhova\u2019s\u00a0a darn good racer. She\u2019s second in the overall World Cup standings and, in most years, would be in contention for the title, except for the fact that Shiffrin is skiing so well these days that the American leads the Slovakian, 1,694-1,043.<\/p>\n By not winning Thursday\u2019s giant slalom, Shiffrin\u2019s winning percentage in her 25 starts since the 2018 Olympics plummeted from .667 to .650. Somehow, I don\u2019t see Shiffrin\u2019s mother, Eileen, telling her daughter to stand in the corner to feel shame for such a \u201cdreadful\u201d outing.<\/p>\n When we\u2019re asking \u201cwhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d when Shiffrin \u2014 or Lindsey Vonn in her heyday \u2014 doesn\u2019t win a race, it\u2019s not so much what\u2019s wrong, but more of a commentary of the dominance of the athlete.<\/p>\n Not only do you have to be skiing at such a high level, which Shiffrin is doing, but you still need some breaks, for example, the temperature not swinging nearly 50 degrees in one week. There is a reason only five people \u2014 Toni Salier, Jean-Claude Killy, Anja Parson, Janica Kostelic and Ted Ligety \u2014 have won three golds at worlds during the post-World War II era.<\/p>\n During her still young career, Shiffrin\u2019s sixth medal at worlds already ties her for ninth on the all-time women\u2019s list after World War II. (By the way, the reason we keep referring to that conflagration is that from 1931-1939, worlds were held annually and it was easier to rack up the medals.)<\/p>\n Vonn, Hermann Maier and Marcel Hirscher, Alpine deities that they are, never won three individual events \u2014 the team event doesn\u2019t count \u2014 at one worlds. That should tell you how hard it is.<\/p>\n One is tempted to play \u201cwhat if?\u201d The podium was Switzerland\u2019s Wendy Holdener, Vlhova and Mowinckel, tech racers all. But as we discussed when the whole Miller-Vonn-Shiffrin to-do erupted,<\/a> Shiffrin seems to have a darn good sense of her comfort level of when to compete. Winning 65 percent of your starts during the last year backs her judgment.<\/p>\n In a break from \u201cShiffrin Watch 2019,\u201d The Associated Press is reporting Hirscher has the flu in advance of today\u2019s men\u2019s GS.<\/p>\n The Austrian, according to AP, said, “I’m spending most of the time in bed. At the moment I’m not too optimistic that I will be in tip-top shape \u2026 I’m coughing, I have a sore throat and a runny nose. I’m not a doctor but it feels like the flu.”<\/p>\n Classic Hirscher downplaying his chances. He\u2019ll win.<\/p>\n And Shiffrin still has the slalom on Saturday. We hear she\u2019s pretty good in that discipline.<\/p>\n Bye-bye.<\/p>\nIssue No. 1: Skiing\u2019s an outdoor sport and weather happens<\/h2>\n
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Issue No. 2: There are other racers trying to win<\/h2>\n
Issue No. 3: This is why it is so hard to win three golds at worlds<\/h2>\n
Issue No. 4: Should Mikaela have done the combined?<\/h2>\n
Issue No. 5: We have more races<\/h2>\n