Mikaela Shiffrin Struggles in Giant Slalom Comeback Amid Recovery from Injury
American skiing icon Mikaela Shiffrin is still regaining her competitive edge as she works her way back from a serious injury. In the World Cup giant slalom event in Sestriere, Italy, on Saturday, she did not qualify for the second run—placing 33rd in the opening round and missing the cutoff by just three spots. She was 2.50 seconds behind the leader, New Zealand’s Alice Robinson. Only the top 30 racers move on to the second run.
This marked Shiffrin’s second consecutive day competing in giant slalom after being sidelined for two months following a crash in November. That accident left her with a puncture wound in her abdomen, which required surgery and an extended break from racing. On Friday, she did manage to qualify for the second run and ultimately finished 25th.
Italian skier Federica Brignone was the star of the weekend, winning both races despite battling illness. On Saturday, she moved up from fourth place after the first run to clinch victory with a combined time of 2:08.81. Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami and Robinson finished second and third, respectively.
Brignone also dominated Friday’s race, overcoming a second-place position after the first run to win with a time of 2:12.69—beating Robinson by 0.40 seconds. Thea Louise Stjernesund of Norway came in third. This adds to Brignone’s impressive record, giving her 34 World Cup wins, including 16 in giant slalom. She now leads the overall World Cup standings with seven victories this season.
Among the American women, Paula Moltzan performed the best on Friday, finishing sixth. She followed that up with an eighth-place finish on Saturday, just behind fellow American A.J. Hurt, who placed seventh. Nina O’Brien also secured a top-10 finish on Friday, coming in eighth.
Shiffrin’s performance Friday saw her sitting in 18th place after the first run, 2.89 seconds off the lead. She posted a second-run time of 1:08.41, the second-slowest among those who completed the course, placing her 4.65 seconds behind Brignone overall.
Saturday’s result was particularly noteworthy—it was the first time since 2012 that Shiffrin, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and eight-time world champion, didn’t qualify for a second run in either a slalom or giant slalom race. Still, just making it back into competition was a milestone for her, especially considering she had opted out of the giant slalom event at the recent world championships due to lingering physical and mental effects from her November crash in Killington, Vermont.
In a message shared on social media before the races, Shiffrin admitted she wasn’t fully recovered but said she felt strong enough to compete again: “I do not yet feel entirely myself… but I do feel enough of myself to be here… and for now, that is enough.”
Though she skipped the giant slalom at worlds, she participated in the team combined event and delivered a strong slalom leg, helping her and teammate Breezy Johnson secure the gold. In the individual slalom, Shiffrin narrowly missed the podium, finishing fifth—just 0.05 seconds shy of a medal.
A slalom race is scheduled for Sunday in Sestriere, offering her another chance to regain momentum.
Before the crash in Killington, Shiffrin was on a high note in the 2024-25 season, having won two early slalom races in Levi, Finland, and Gurgl, Austria, to reach 99 World Cup victories. She had been aiming for her historic 100th win at Killington, where she once trained at Burke Mountain Academy. After setting the fastest first-run time, she crashed during her second run, hitting the snow and sliding into safety netting. The fall forced her to miss the following day’s race and led to her extended break.
Since her return in late January, she has slowly been working back into form. In her comeback race—a slalom in Courchevel, France, on January 30—she finished 10th.
Reflecting on her journey back, Shiffrin emphasized the importance of perspective: “It’s eight weeks since I had surgery,” she said at worlds. “It’s six weeks since I was laying in bed with a drainage tube sticking out of me. So, it’s like, perspective is important. … It takes time.”
The World Cup calendar still offers two more slalom weekends: in Åre, Sweden, from March 8-9, and in Sun Valley, Idaho, for the World Cup Finals between March 22-27. These remaining races will give Shiffrin more chances to regain her form—and potentially earn that elusive 100th World Cup win.
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