Alpine skiing today – Will US ski star Shiffrin attack again in Are?

Will Mikaela Shiffrin make a comeback in Are after a seven-week injury break? The US ski star is “not pain-free” yet, but it should be enough to start in the slalom.

Mikaela Shiffrin is about to return to the Alpine Ski World Cup. The US ski star announced at the end of February that he wanted to compete in Are. A giant slalom and a slalom are taking place in Sweden this weekend. Shiffrin has already published pictures of training runs in Are, Sweden, on social networks. But the US association is putting the 28-year-old’s return plans into perspective. “The giant slalom is questionable”her team said.

Shiffrin “not yet pain-free”

Shiffrin is still struggling with the consequences of the serious fall on January 26th: last week she announced that she knew that she would not be able to make her planned comeback “not yet pain-free” will be. During the descent in Cortina d’Ampezzo she suffered an medial ligament injury in her left knee.

She will probably only compete in the slalom on Sunday (March 10, 2024) – because Shiffrin still has a realistic chance of winning the small crystal ball. The battle in the overall World Cup seems to have been decided – the Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami goes into the last three race weekends with a 385-point lead over Shiffrin, who has now slipped to third place. And Shiffrin also has no chance in the overall giant slalom rankings.

Can Dürr challenge Shiffrin for the little crystal ball?

She can only win the small crystal ball for the best in the slalom – there she still leads confidently despite the break. She is 125 points ahead of the Slovakian Petra Vlhova, who will not take part in any more races this season due to injury.

Third is Lena Dürr. With a deficit of 188 points and two slaloms remaining, the Bavarian theoretically has the opportunity to win the small crystal ball. The slalom runner, who competes for SV Germering, has already been on the podium four times this season.

But the 32-year-old was unable to take advantage of the failure of the two strongest slalom riders in recent years and was hardly able to reduce the gap. At the last slalom – the only one without Shiffrin and Vlhova – four weeks ago in Soldeu, Dürr started the race as favorite – and finished sixth. With a podium finish she could have gained significantly more points.

Dürr “still has unfinished business” with Are

But Dürr is still approaching the races in Are with optimism. “After four weeks without a race, I’m happy to finally be at the start again. And then in Are, my favorite World Cup location. I like the slope and everything around it and have already achieved good results here. Nevertheless, I have here still have an invoice outstanding“, says the World Cup bronze medalist from Méribel.

Because two years ago she led in Are – and ended up in an ungrateful fourth place after the second run. Dürr also wants to drive the giant slalom: “By starting in the giant slalom I want to get back into the racing rhythm and then attack in the slalom on Sunday.”