With 99 World Cup victories in her career, she is the most successful skier of all time. But something is not right for Mikaela Shiffrin right now.
When the World Cup resumed in Sestriere, Italy, the American superstar delivered a rare weak performance. Already after the first run, she was almost three seconds behind leader Alice Robinson from New Zealand, and no better than 18th in the results list.
In the second run, she fell further behind and had to settle for 25th place in the end, a full 4.65 seconds behind winner Federica Brignone from Italy.
This is Shiffrin's worst World Cup result in a technical discipline in 13 years – excluding disqualifications.
It seems clear that the 29-year-old is still suffering from mental setbacks from her serious crash in Killington in November, just in giant slalom.
Friday's competition was her first in the discipline since then. The plan was for Shiffrin to make her giant slalom comeback in the World Championship last week, but she opted out with a feeling she likened to post-traumatic stress.
"I'm mentally blocked," Shiffrin told AP then.
On Thursday evening, she explained on Instagram why she now felt ready to take on the discipline.
"I'm still not quite myself, but I feel I'm enough myself to be here. For now, that will have to be enough," Shiffrin wrote on Thursday evening.
