Mikaela Shiffrin’s pursuit of World Cup win No. 100 is not on the prime of her precedence listing on the eve of her return to ski racing two months after a critical crash.
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For her, the slalom competitors Thursday in Courchevel, France, is solely the subsequent step in getting her well being again to 100%.
The 2-time Olympic champion continues to be rounding into prime kind after a spill in a large slalom race on Nov. 30 in Killington, Vermont, the place one thing punctured her within the facet and brought on extreme trauma to her indirect muscular tissues.
Shiffrin mentioned she wasn’t even positive if she would make it again in any respect this season.
“To be here at this point is just so incredible,” Shiffrin mentioned in a video she recorded forward of Thursday’s competitors. “It’s just really hard to zoom out and look at that whole big picture and all the hype that has been talked about since the start of the season.
“This is a step. This is a really big step in my recovery. But it’s only one step, actually. We’re taking it as it comes. My biggest goal is to enjoy being back in the start gate again.”
The French region has long held a special place for Shiffrin. She’s won seven World Cup events at Courchevel/Meribel, spanning four different disciplines. She’s captured three world championship medals in this area, too. It’s also where she earned her first win after losing her father. Jeff Shiffrin died at age 65 in February 2020, in an accident at the family home in Colorado.
“It was very much the first race that helped me believe on any level that I might be able to return to the form that I had before my dad’s accident,” explained Shiffrin, who can become the first Alpine ski racer to amass 100 World Cup wins. “It helped me notice that though my life would possibly by no means be the identical, that doesn’t imply it’s not value it. There’s numerous that means constructed into this race for me.
“It’s pretty beautiful that I’m able to make this return here.”
The road back following her ski crash has been filled with hurdles. Right after the crash, she didn’t have the core strength to rise out of a chair. She also needed a surgery to ward off infection from the puncture wound that was millimeters from piercing her colon.
With the help of physical therapist Regan Dewhirst, she’s steadily regained her strength. On Jan. 1, Shiffrin was back on skis. Two weeks later, she was executing some easy turns through slalom gates. This race, a return to competition, is just the next step along the way.
“We kind of hit the ground running once I was able to sit up out of bed,” the 29-year-old Shiffrin explained. “Then it was like, ‘How can we progress every single day?’ It’s felt like an all-out sprint.”
Shiffrin said getting to the start gate in Courchevel should be considered a “huge, huge victory already.”
“A part of what I hope to show the world is that I want to be here,” she added. “That sounds so simple and so obvious, but I questioned whether or not it’s even worth returning this season. Even if I could take on that physically, could I take it on mentally? I suppose I have enough of an answer to that, being that I’m here and we’re doing it.”
What’s meant an important deal to Shiffrin has been all of the help she’s obtained from teammates and rivals. They’d attain out to let her know she was missed on the circuit.
“That actually made my day. Each time,” Shiffrin mentioned. “I want to be here despite the uncertainties and the doubts.
“That’s the mentality I want to take into the start gate and in life. It’s more of a legacy thing. It’s like, ‘I want to be here and I want to be doing this the best that I can.’ That’s the mentality I’ve taken so far, and that’s what I hope to continue for the rest of the season.”
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