{"id":1318576,"date":"2020-03-05T10:47:17","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T17:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vaildaily.com\/?p=474333"},"modified":"2020-03-06T08:18:54","modified_gmt":"2020-03-06T15:18:54","slug":"mikaela-shiffrin-returning-to-world-cup-circuit-despite-uncertainty-over-coronavirus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/mikaela-shiffrin-returning-to-world-cup-circuit-despite-uncertainty-over-coronavirus\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikaela Shiffrin returning to World Cup circuit despite uncertainty over coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mikaela Shiffrin smiles on the podium after winning a World Cup super-G in Bansko, Bulgaria, on Jan. 26.<\/strong>
Giovanni Auletta | AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Mikaela Shiffrin took to Instagram video Thursday<\/a> to announce she is returning to the World Cup circuit in Europe after a month-long absence following the death of her father. Shiffrin\u2019s return to racing comes amid uncertainty over the remaining race schedule due to the spread of coronavirus in Europe.<\/p>\n

Shiffrin said she is flying to Scandinavia on Thursday. Three races are scheduled \u2014 a parallel slalom, giant slalom, and slalom \u2014 one week later in Are, Sweden.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no promises if I\u2019ll actually be able to race,\u201d Shiffrin said in a six-minute video message that addressed the emotions about her father, Jeff, who died on Feb. 2.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no doubt that we are broken,\u201d she said of her family\u2019s grief. \u201cAccepting this new \u2018reality\u2019 is going to take a long time, and maybe we never truly will, maybe we don\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

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View this post on Instagram<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the last few weeks, my family and I have received an overwhelming amount of support and love. The most kind and heartwarming messages you could imagine, checking in on us, sharing quotes and poems, song-lyrics, and telling wonderful stories about my Dad. Sometimes it feels like we are drowning in these messages, like we can\u2019t keep up with the support and love that everyone has shown, yet in so many ways it has also been our lifeline. We have not been able to respond to everything, but we want you all to know that we feel your love, and we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for sharing it with us. Many have asked how we are doing, and where we are in the \u201cgrieving process\u201d? The truth is, we haven\u2019t really even started. Accepting this new \u201creality\u201d is going to take a long time, and maybe we never truly will, maybe we don\u2019t have to. Because we can still feel him here. In our hearts, in our thoughts, in the sky and mountains and snow. He made his mark, and he is here. Many have also asked about my return to skiing and racing. I have been able to train a little bit over the last few weeks. It has been a slow process, but it has been theraputic to be on the mountain. I\u2019ve found training to be a place where I can feel closer to my dad, yet it provides enough of a distraction so that feeling of \u201ccloseness\u201d can be separated from the pain. I am flying to Scandinavia today. I have no promises if I\u2019ll actually be able to race when the time comes, and I don\u2019t really even have goals. I just hope to make a few good turns. I think that would make my dad happy. If and when I do return to competition I\u2019d ask that you continue to respect my privacy, especially as it relates to my family\u2019s heartbreak. We are so thankful for the time we had with him\u2014we cherish every single one of those moments\u2014and we will keep him here in our hearts and our memories forever. \ud83e\udd0d<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by Mikaela Shiffrin \u26f7\ud83d\udca8<\/a> (@mikaelashiffrin) on

Shiffrin said she had trained a little but with difficulty.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been a slow process, I have struggled with being able to maintain my focus,\u201d said the two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time defending overall World Cup champion. \u201cBut it has been therapeutic to be on the mountain. I\u2019ve found training to be a place where I can feel closer to my dad, yet it provides enough of a distraction so that feeling of \u2018closeness\u2019 can be separated from the pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

During her absence, Shiffrin has lost her lead in the overall standings to Federica Brignone. In her specialist slalom discipline, Petra Vlhova now has a small lead.<\/p>\n

Seven points-scoring events are left on the schedule in Sweden and Italy. However, the World Cup Finals races in Cortina d\u2019Ampezzo are threatened by the virus outbreak in northern Italy.<\/p>\n

The International Ski Federation plans an update Friday on the Cortina races, which could be canceled or held without fans at the venue.<\/p>\n

Shiffrin last raced on Jan. 26 when she won a super-G in Bansko, Bulgaria. The next weekend she returned to her family home in Vail to be with her father at the hospital.<\/p>\n

In the video, Shiffrin read one of her father\u2019s favorite poems, thanked the many well-wishers who have sent messages of support, and asked that her family\u2019s privacy continues to be respected.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last few weeks, my family and I have received an overwhelming amount of support and love,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

This weekend\u2019s women\u2019s events in Ofterschwang, Germany had already been scrubbed because of a lack of snow.<\/p>\n

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While trying to measure up to her record-setting season of 2018-19 was nigh unto impossible, Shiffrin has been dominant at times, including her December slalom win in Killington, Vermont. (AP file photo\/Charles Krupa)<\/strong>
AP Photo\/Charles Krupa<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Her prodigious ski-racing career took understandably took a backseat to her family after her father, Jeff, unexpectedly died<\/a> at the beginning of February.<\/p>\n

While keeping an eye on the big picture that Shiffrin suffered an enormous personal loss recently, and that the entire Eagle County community mourns with her,<\/a> she has had a successful, while simultaneously challenging campaign in 2019-20.<\/p>\n

High expectations<\/h2>\n

The thought that Shiffrin could match or even come close to the success of her record-setting 2018-19 year<\/a> was ludicrous and unattainable. There\u2019s a reason everyone was agog after she set a record with 17 World Cup wins (Switzerland\u2019s Vreni Schneider won 14 in 1988-89) while winning her third consecutive World Cup championship, as well as globes in slalom (her sixth in seven seasons), giant slalom (her first) and super-G (a rather unexpected championship).<\/p>\n

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Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates back-to-back wins in Lienz, Austria, in late December. She won six times on tour, the most of any athlete on the women\u2019s World Cup tour. (AP file photo\/Marco Trovati)<\/strong>
Austria Alpine Skiing World Cup<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Shiffrin scored 2,204 points on the World Cup. That\u2019s second all-time \u2014 men or women \u2014 only to Slovenia\u2019s Tina Maze\u2019s blockbuster 2012-13 season (2,414). Adding in the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Are, where she won slalom and super-G and took bronze in GS, in February 2019, Shiffrin won 19 of her 29 starts, a wonderfully absurd percentage \u201465.5.<\/p>\n

While stipulating that Shiffrin in a generational athletic treasure, a lot of things had to go right for her to accomplish as much as she did in 2018-19. The super-G globe from that year is a perfect example.<\/p>\n

Shiffrin skied brilliantly in the discipline winning three times and finishing fourth at the World Cup finals. (Victories at worlds do not count toward World Cup points.)<\/p>\n

She also got a break or two along the way. She took off two weeks from speed events in February 2019 and both of those stops were canceled due to weather. The rest of the field lost two chances to gain on an idle Shiffrin in super-G. Shiffrin beat Austria\u2019s Nicole Schmidhofer by 47 points (or just about half a race) for the title.<\/p>\n

Because Shiffrin did not win in 2019-20 at the Herculean pace that she did in 2018-19, uneducated observers were wondering what was \u201cwrong\u201d with her.<\/p>\n

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People be like\u2026 \u201cit\u2019s a slump!\u201d\u2026 \u201cit\u2019s not a slump!\u201d\u2026 \u201cshe\u2019s back!\u201d\u2026 \u201cor, wait\u2026\u201d \ud83d\ude02 All I can say is- this season\/this sport (my career)\/this life is a marathon, not a sprint.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mikaela Shiffrin (@MikaelaShiffrin) January 29, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cAll I can say is- this season\/this sport (my career)\/this life is a marathon, not a sprint,\u201d she tweeted, lending the proper perspective, in January.<\/p>\n

Six victories<\/h2>\n

Speaking of perspective, it\u2019s not like Shiffrin fell off the face of the earth by not maintaining her 2018-19 pace. She has won six times on tour this season, edging out rivals Slovakia\u2019s Petra Vlhova and Italy\u2019s Federica Brignone (five each) for most wins on the tour this winter.<\/p>\n

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No season is complete without a reindeer, right? Mikaela Shiffrin says hello to her new reindeer, eventually named Ingemar, after winning the Levi, Finland, slalom in November. (AP file photo\/Alessandro Trovati)<\/strong>
Finland Alpine Skiing World Cup<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Shiffrin still had days where she absolutely dominated \u2014 she won slaloms in Levi, Finland,<\/a> by 1.79-seconds and in Killington, Vermont, by a whopping 2.29 seconds.<\/a> Shiffrin topped the podium on back-to-back days in Lienz, Austria, in GS and slalom<\/a> during December.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that she also managed to win in all four of the traditional disciplines in one season with downhill and super-G victories in Bansko, Bulgaria, at the end of January.<\/a><\/p>\n

At the same time, there was bad luck, bad breaks and frustration. On Jan. 18 in Sestriere, Italy. Shiffrin finished 1-hundredth of a second off the pace in a GS. She finished third<\/a> as Brignone and Vlhova tied for the win.<\/p>\n

The next day, Shiffrin was the victim of a bad course set in parallel slalom, finishing ninth.<\/a> Shiffrin was tactful as always, but when one course set produces 17 winners and the other three in 20 head-to-head matches, something\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n

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On the slopes, 2019-20 was a difficult year at times for Mikaela Shiffrin and she showed frustration in her own mild way. (AP Photo\/Alessandro Trovati)<\/strong>
Italy Alpine Skiing World Cup<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Some days, Shiffrin just wasn\u2019t in the groove, as was the case when she finished 17th in a GS in Courchevel, France,<\/a> in December.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, many ski racers would give vital organs for an \u201coff year\u201d like this.<\/p>\n

This story includes reporting from The Associated Press<\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Vail Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mikaela Shiffrin smiles on the podium after winning a World Cup super-G in Bansko, Bulgaria, on Jan. 26.Giovanni Auletta | AP Mikaela Shiffrin took to Instagram video Thursday to announce she is returning to the World Cup circuit in Europe after a month-long absence following the death of her father. Shiffrin\u2019s return to racing comes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1318576","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-28 05:59:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1318576"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1318593,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318576\/revisions\/1318593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1318576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1318576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1318576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}