ARE, Sweden (AP) — In her first competition off a six-week injury layoff, Mikaela Shiffrin only genuinely wanted “good skiing.”
But even by the American star’s standards, what she received was “an insane way to return.”
On Sunday, Shiffrin made a spectacular return to the World Cup, winning her eighth season title in the discipline and dominating the penultimate slalom of the season for a career win of 96.
The two-time Olympic champion, competing for the first time after suffering a left knee injury in a downhill crash in Italy, set fastest speeds in both runs, defeating third-place finisher Michelle Gisin of Switzerland by 1.34 seconds and Croatian prodigy Zrinka Ljutic by a staggering 1.24 seconds.
“We seem to be living in a dream right now,”
Shiffrin received a great deal more. In the first leg, she narrowly defeated her rivals, but in the second, she ran wild and destroyed everyone.
“This is a crazy way to get back,” she exclaimed. “It was great to race today again, even though I was nervous and experiencing all the feelings I had hoped to.” Extremely proud of my team, and I’m also proud of myself for returning and demonstrating my skiing. I skied some of my best on the second run. Being able to accomplish that once again this season makes me very happy.
Shiffrin was still mending from a bone bruise she had suffered at the beginning of the season, and she had been sidelined since spraining her MCL and tibiofibular ligament in January.
The American, who turns 29 on Wednesday, crashed among other Olympic, World Cup, and world champions.
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