Mikaela Shiffrin expects to race World Cup slalom in Are, Sweden while GS remains ‘in question’
Shiffrin trails Lara Gut-Behrami by 385 points in the overall crystal globe standings with six races remaining
Giovanni Maria Pizzato/AP photo
After spraining the MCL and tibiofibular ligament in her left knee in a downhill crash on Jan. 26 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Mikaela Shiffrin has been notably absent from the women’s Alpine World Cup circuit. The Edwards superstar expects to return to action this weekend in Are, Sweden, the site of not only her first World Cup win, but her record-breaking 86th and 87th as well.
“Mikaela is improving in slalom and feels that the slalom race is still realistic, but the GS is in question,” her team said in a statement on Monday. “We will share more in the coming days.”
A giant slalom is slated for Saturday, with the slalom following on Sunday. Shiffrin’s publicist Megan Harrod said it was likely Shiffrin would conduct a virtual press conference on Friday.
Shiffrin goes into second-to-last slalom of the season leading the discipline globe by 125 points over the injured Petra Vlhova and 188 clear of German Lena Duerr. The American has been mathematically eliminated from the GS crystal globe.
Meanwhile, Lara Gut-Behrami and Federica Brignone have overtaken Shiffrin in the overall standings. She’s 59 points behind Brignone and trails the Swiss star — who also leads the GS, super-G and downhill standings — by 385 points with six races remaining on the calendar.
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On Tuesday, Shiffrin posted a training video to Instagram.
“After nearly 7 weeks, I finally got back into a real slalom course,” she stated. “Some kinds of progress feel more satisfying than others.”
