Mikaela Shiffrin’s winning streak is over.
Shiffrin finished second in the slalom on Sunday, Jan. 4, at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, the first time she’s been beaten in her signature discipline this World Cup season. Shiffrin had won the first five slalom races this season, and six including the World Cup finals last season.
‘I don’t believe it’s possible to win every race in the season with the competition level. Actually, I hope it wouldn’t be possible,’ said Shiffrin, whose six wins in a row were one shy of her career-best streak. ‘Still, I wanted to give it my best shot.
‘But I think this was a really, really amazing show,’ Shiffrin added. ‘I was grateful to be part of it and I’m motivated to push harder to find more speed for the next race.’
Shiffrin’s time of 1:40.34 was 0.14 seconds behind Camille Rast of Switzerland. When Rast crossed the finish line Sunday, Shiffrin gave a big smile and then greeted Rast with a hug. It was Rast’s second win in as many days following her victory in the giant slalom on Saturday, Jan. 3, and caps an emotional weekend for the Swiss skier.
Rast grew up near the resort in Crans-Montana where at least 40 people were killed when a fire broke out during New Year’s Eve celebrations.
‘I cannot explain how hard it is to have a race weekend (with) back-to-back victories in two different events. It’s so exhausting,’ Shiffrin said of Rast. ‘She had a spectacular weekend. It’s really motivating to see that. It’s very inspiring.
‘And I think for everybody watching, you have to just appreciate the talent and the work ethic and the ability that it takes for an athlete to do that. She showed up and she did it amazing.’
It was a good day overall for the U.S. team, which had four skiers in the top 20. Paula Moltzan was fourth, A.J. Hurt was 13th and Nina O’Brien was 19th.
Rast’s two victories this weekend brings her closer to Shiffrin in the overall standings. Shiffrin now has 823 points, 120 more than Rast.
‘Everybody likes to win, right? But I think it’s better to have these really challenging, testing moments and to rise to the challenge and to put out the best skiing possible, and then we get to have this showdown in the second run,’ Shiffrin said. ‘And I’m learning to love that.’
Shiffrin dominated the early part of the season in slalom, winning her first four races by an average of 1.5 seconds. In a sport often decided by tenths and hundredths of a second, that’s a whopping margin.
But Rast has established herself as Shiffrin’s main rival over these last two weekends. Shiffrin needed one of the most impressive comebacks of her career last weekend to extend her win streak, erasing a 0.54-second deficit to Rast after the first run to win by 0.09 seconds.
Rast was not going to be denied two weekends in a row.
Rast had a 0.10-second lead after the first run, when she was more aggressive than Shiffrin in the bottom half of the course. That was a manageable deficit to make up, and Shiffrin looked as if she would be the winner once again with a blistering second run.
But a slight mistake at the top, when Shiffrin got a little wide around a gate, cost her time. That left an opening for Rast, and she took it. Though she’d fallen slightly behind midway through the course, Rast got herself back on track and made a furious dash to the finish.
When she threw herself across the finish line, Shiffrin’s win streak was over.
‘She had beautiful skiing. Both runs, she was just outstanding,’ Shiffrin said.
Still, Shiffrin was happy with her own effort. There was something she wanted to do technically in the second run, and she felt as if she accomplished that. That could bode well for her next battle with Rast.
Shiffrin and the rest of the tech circuit have next weekend off before their next race, a slalom in Flachau, Austria, on Jan. 13.
‘The only real improvement (to make) is just when the speed is coming that fast, to be so consistent that it’s there every turn. This (second) run, I was not backing off,’ Shiffrin said. ‘I would not change anything for the second run. I would just try to repeat this level as much as possible in training the next several weeks.’
