Shiffrin claims fourth overall World Cup title in France

Exorcising her demons of severe disappointment at the Beijing Olympics, Mikaela Shiffrin won her fourth overall World Cup title on Thursday in Courchevel, France.

Shiffrin finished second in a super-G race, just 0.5 seconds behind Norwegian winner Ragnhild Mowinckel. The American ski racing star earns 80 points and increases her total to an insurmountable 236 point lead over the closest challenger and rival Petra Vlhova.

There are two tech races left for the season-ending World Cup finals shared by the French Alps resorts of Courchevel and Meribel, but with 100 points awarded for a win, Shiffrin's lead is out of reach.

Shiffrin's fourth career World Cup title equals her former U.S. ski team teammate Lindsey Vonn. Austrian legend Annemarie Moser-Proell won six titles in the 1970s.

The 27-year-old American skier was asked by Around the Rings how this title compares to the other three, which she won consecutively between 2017-19.

“I feel like it was the most unlikely, in some ways it seemed impossible,” Shiffrin told reporters in the finish zone in Courchevel.

“There were many times throughout the season where I thought I wasn't going to run on the descents in Crans-Montana, that I had to train and rest a bit after these Olympics because we skied 20 days in a row in China and I've never done that in my career.”

At the Beijing Games, Shiffrin's best result was only ninth, including three “didn't finish” in six races.

Shiffrin was asked how she managed to bounce back so quickly after her disappointment in China.

“It's hard to say that I really bounced back because I don't know if you're rebounding after something like that, you feel like it's going wrong in your career,” said Shiffrin, who won gold medals in Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018.

I just put one foot in front of the other, kept skiing, stepping away from the Olympics, skiing in different conditions and starting to feel like the other 12 years of my career meant something too and those three weeks at the Olympics didn't really change things, it wasn't only really bad weeks.

“And unfortunately it was bad in public too, so it's a tough thing that I'm going to continue to face because people will keep asking in every race for a while.

“I don't think I'll ever be OK with the feeling I had there, but I'm still looking back from China, and there were moments here and there outside the race, the performance, even the weather on the snow that were great moments,” she said.

Vlhova, who won the World Cup last season, congratulated Shiffrin on his defeat.

“I tried to do everything, but of course Mikaela had an amazing two days and I'm happy for her and she confirmed that she's the best now and she won in the overall standings,” said Vlhova.

“Maybe after the Olympic Games, a lot of people started to think that maybe she wasn't that good, but she came back strong like a real champion.”

His season title is particularly impressive given that Shiffrin missed 10 days of competition and training due to a COVID-19 case at the end of December, less than six weeks before the Beijing Games. She also decided to skip two important downhill races in Switzerland at the end of February, which could have ended her title chances.

“All of these decisions, it was basically a snowball based on the fact that I was stuck within 10 days with COVID, and that the biggest competitors I've had this year, didn't have those 10 days, but that's what it is.

“In the end, these decisions worked to be there now and it seemed like the most unlikely thing that could happen. ”

I am proud of it, grateful, really grateful and also very happy for my coaches and my entire team, who have worked so hard and earned it with me or even for me,” she said.

Austria's Vincent Kriechmayr won the men's super-G on Thursday, his second victory in two days in the World Cup Final. Shiffrin's boyfriend Alexander Aamodt Kilde has been rewarded by the world as the World Cup winner in super-G.

The action will take place on Friday in nearby Meribel for the team event, which will be followed by giant slaloms and slaloms on Saturday and Sunday to close the season.

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