{"id":2450339,"date":"2019-10-24T23:04:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T05:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/rivals-dont-believe-they-can-beat-shiffrin-to-overall-title\/"},"modified":"2019-10-24T23:04:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T05:04:00","slug":"rivals-dont-believe-they-can-beat-mikaela-shiffrin-to-overall-world-cup-ski-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/rivals-dont-believe-they-can-beat-mikaela-shiffrin-to-overall-world-cup-ski-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Rivals don\u2019t believe they can beat Mikaela Shiffrin to overall World Cup ski title"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.8445772843723\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-315006-265\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Shiffrin\u2019s_Spotlight_Skiing_34539-fbfff2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Shiffrin\u2019s_Spotlight_Skiing_34539-fbfff2-1024x703.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Patrick Semansky | Associated Press file photo | AP | Can anyone beat Mikaela Shiffrin? Her rivals, as they gather in Soelden, Austria, don't seem to think so.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>Can anyone beat Mikaela Shiffrin? Her rivals, as they gather in Soelden, Austria, don&#8217;t seem to think so.<\/strong><br \/>Patrick Semansky | Associated Press file photo | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Shiffrin\u2019s_Spotlight_Skiing_34539-fbfff2-1024x703.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Can anyone beat Mikaela Shiffrin? Her rivals, as they gather in Soelden, Austria, don't seem to think so.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Shiffrin\u2019s_Spotlight_Skiing_34539-fbfff2-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Shiffrin\u2019s_Spotlight_Skiing_34539-fbfff2-1-1024x696.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | AP | FILE - In this Sunday, March 17, 2019 file photo, Austria's Marcel Hirscher, left, and United States' Mikaela Shiffrin hold the World Cup overall trophies, at the alpine ski finals in Soldeu, Andorra. A new Alpine ski season starts this month, Oct. 2019, with Mikaela Shiffrin the expected superstar and China poised to be a surprise success. Shiffrin is the sport\u2019s most bankable star after Lindsey Vonn, Marcel Hirscher, and Aksel Lund Svindal all retired. (AP Photo\/Alessandro Trovati, File)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"5.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"22\">\n<p><strong>FILE &#8211; In this Sunday, March 17, 2019 file photo, Austria&#8217;s Marcel Hirscher, left, and United States&#8217; Mikaela Shiffrin hold the World Cup overall trophies, at the alpine ski finals in Soldeu, Andorra. A new Alpine ski season starts this month, Oct. 2019, with Mikaela Shiffrin the expected superstar and China poised to be a surprise success. Shiffrin is the sport\u2019s most bankable star after Lindsey Vonn, Marcel Hirscher, and Aksel Lund Svindal all retired. (AP Photo\/Alessandro Trovati, File)<\/strong><br \/>AP | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Shiffrin\u2019s_Spotlight_Skiing_34539-fbfff2-1-1024x696.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"FILE - In this Sunday, March 17, 2019 file photo, Austria's Marcel Hirscher, left, and United States' Mikaela Shiffrin hold the World Cup overall trophies, at the alpine ski finals in Soldeu, Andorra. A new Alpine ski season starts this month, Oct. 2019, with Mikaela Shiffrin the expected superstar and China poised to be a surprise success. Shiffrin is the sport\u2019s most bankable star after Lindsey Vonn, Marcel Hirscher, and Aksel Lund Svindal all retired. (AP Photo\/Alessandro Trovati, File)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Shiffrin\u2019s_Spotlight_Skiing_34539-fbfff2-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Shiffrin\u2019s_Spotlight_Skiing_34539-fbfff2-2-1024x688.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | AP | FILE - In this Thursday, March 14, 2019 file photo, United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes during the women's super G race at the alpine ski World Cup finals, in Soldeu, Andorra. A new Alpine ski season starts this month, Oct. 2019, with Mikaela Shiffrin the expected superstar and China poised to be a surprise success. Shiffrin is the sport\u2019s most bankable star after Lindsey Vonn, Marcel Hirscher, and Aksel Lund Svindal all retired. (AP Photo\/Gabriele Facciotti, File)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"4.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"20\">\n<p><strong>FILE &#8211; In this Thursday, March 14, 2019 file photo, United States&#8217; Mikaela Shiffrin competes during the women&#8217;s super G race at the alpine ski World Cup finals, in Soldeu, Andorra. A new Alpine ski season starts this month, Oct. 2019, with Mikaela Shiffrin the expected superstar and China poised to be a surprise success. Shiffrin is the sport\u2019s most bankable star after Lindsey Vonn, Marcel Hirscher, and Aksel Lund Svindal all retired. (AP Photo\/Gabriele Facciotti, File)<\/strong><br \/>AP | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Shiffrin\u2019s_Spotlight_Skiing_34539-fbfff2-2-1024x688.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"FILE - In this Thursday, March 14, 2019 file photo, United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes during the women's super G race at the alpine ski World Cup finals, in Soldeu, Andorra. A new Alpine ski season starts this month, Oct. 2019, with Mikaela Shiffrin the expected superstar and China poised to be a surprise success. Shiffrin is the sport\u2019s most bankable star after Lindsey Vonn, Marcel Hirscher, and Aksel Lund Svindal all retired. (AP Photo\/Gabriele Facciotti, File)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/rivals-dont-believe-they-can-beat-shiffrin-to-overall-title\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/rivals-dont-believe-they-can-beat-shiffrin-to-overall-title\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">SOELDEN, Austria \u2014 With Mikaela Shiffrin\u2019s dominance in the Alpine skiing World Cup increasing each year, some of her main competitors don\u2019t seem to hold out much hope of beating the American standout for the overall title.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Like Wendy Holdener, who was runner-up to Shiffrin two years ago and third last season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI don\u2019t think about the overall at the moment. If it could be a battle, it would be great,\u201d the Swiss skier told The Associated Press on Thursday, two days before the season starts with a giant slalom on the Rettenbach glacier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Or Sofia Goggia, who has finished in the top three overall a few times before a fractured ankle halted her challenge for most of last season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe goal is to confirm myself on the speed side. But I am not thinking about the overall,\u201d the Italian said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">It will likely leave Petra Vlhova as Shiffrin\u2019s main challenger again. The Slovakian technical specialist won five races last season and even beat Shiffrin once in the American\u2019s strongest discipline, slalom. Vlhova ended the season as the runner-up, but trailed Shiffrin by 801 points.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">That was the American\u2019s biggest season-ending margin so far. Shiffrin led Ilka Stuhec of Slovenia by 274 points for her first big crystal globe in 2017, and the difference grew to 671 points over Holdener the next year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">What followed was a record-breaking season, including 17 World Cup wins to raise her career tally to 60, third on the all-time winners list of the women\u2019s World Cup. While Austrian great Annemarie Moser-Proell is within reach with 62 career wins, Shiffrin probably won\u2019t catch Lindsey Vonn this season. The retired four-time overall champions has 82 wins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Apart from her third straight overall title, Shiffrin won the season titles in slalom, GS and super-G.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cLast season was huge and it was almost too much, so I think I have to be a little bit realistic, too,\u201d Shiffrin said about replicating her achievement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">What separates the upcoming season from the previous three is the lack of a major medal competition. With no Olympics or world championships in February 2020, Shiffrin might choose to step up her efforts in super-G and downhill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt actually gives an opportunity to test out a little bit more what I am able to do in speed,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel more comfortable to push there because you don\u2019t have to be safe for a world championship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">While her build-up to the season has been similar to previous years and her team, led by head coach Mike Day, has remained unchanged, something will be different: mother Eileen, also one of her coaches, won\u2019t travel the whole circuit this season as she is also taking care of her 98-year-old mother.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cBut I selfishly asked her when she is able to come, to travel and be with me because she has been a huge piece of my success,\u201d Shiffrin told the AP in a recent interview at the office of her equipment supplier, Atomic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cSomebody who is so close to me, my mother is my best friend and also an incredible coach. I think that sets me apart from the other athletes,\u201d Shiffrin said. \u201cIt sounds a bit selfish but I don\u2019t want to let that go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\"><strong>GOGGIA\u2019S GOALS <\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Goggia, the Olympic downhill champion, saw her quest for last season\u2019s overall title end before the first race. A broken ankle kept her out until late January, but she returned with a bang, winning super-G silver at the world championship and a World Cup downhill in Switzerland the following month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe first races last season were a surprise but when you start with no real expectations, everything can happen,\u201d Goggia said. \u201cWhen you have your back and your shoulders against the wall, you got one chance to do the right thing. So when it comes to being a shooter, I am a good shooter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Goggia\u2019s injury forced her to sit out all but two giant slaloms last season, meaning she has dropped out of the top 30 in the discipline rankings and will get an unfavorable late start position in Saturday\u2019s race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI am going to start far behind. I really have no expectations but I have been working a lot,\u201d the Italian said. \u201cIn super-G and downhill I am OK, so I am pretty confident and solid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\"><strong>HOLDENER\u2019S HOPE <\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Having added a few extra days of speed training to her offseason schedule in Zermatt in her native Switzerland, Holdener might increase her number of starts in super-G and downhill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to have, like, five disciplines. We will see how the season is starting, which events I am doing in speed. Normally I won\u2019t do a lot of downhills,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Make no mistake, slalom and GS remain her main events.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIn GS I am top seven but the best girls are still a little bit in front of me,\u201d she said. \u201cLast season sometimes I skied really good and then I took a step back. You shouldn\u2019t do that. You should fight until the finish.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">One of Holdener\u2019s biggest wishes is to finally get that first win in slalom. She amassed 22 top-three results but is yet to win a race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">No skier, male or female, has ever had more World Cup podiums in a single discipline without a win.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/rivals-dont-believe-they-can-beat-shiffrin-to-overall-title\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can anyone beat Mikaela Shiffrin? Her rivals, as they gather in Soelden, Austria, don&#8217;t seem to think so.Patrick Semansky | Associated Press file photo | AP FILE &#8211; In this Sunday, March 17, 2019 file photo, Austria&#8217;s Marcel Hirscher, left, and United States&#8217; Mikaela Shiffrin hold the World Cup overall trophies, at the alpine ski [&hellip;]<\/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":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2450339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 11:52:12","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":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2450339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2450339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2450339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2450339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}