American star Mikaela Shiffrin wins first slalom of the season in Levi

For several weeks now, there has been nothing but her in the little world of alpine skiing. Retired from the slopes since 2019, the American star Lindsey Vonn was announced on the return, at 40 years old, a rumor which became information Thursday, November 14, by a press release from the American ski federation. Five years later, the four-time winner of the “big globe” of the World Cup will soon return to the starting gates, without however having given a precise date to her fans.

Has the return to business of her compatriot scalded Mikaela Shiffrin, hardly used to sharing the spotlight? The native of Vail, Colorado, delivered a performance on Saturday, November 16, which seemed like a reminder for those who would see her fall from her pedestal. Well above the rest, the skier won the first slalom of the season in Levi (Finland) by 79 hundredths ahead of the Austrian Katharina Liensberger. The German Lena Dürr completes the podium, 83 hundredths behind the queen of the day.

At 29 years old, Shiffrin continues to win and increase his personal statistics. Here she is with eight successes in the Finnish resort, 98 successes in the World Cup – including 61 in slalom, her specialty – and a race towards a sixth title of winner of the general classification of the World Cup well underway. If she managed to win, she would have a nice revenge after letting the “big globe” slip away to Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami the previous season, notably missing several weeks of competition due to a big fall.

Already in the lead after the first round

“It’s a great way to start the season, I’m very happy. I didn’t have the perfect pace, but it worked well for me, it was a solid passage in these conditions” explained the woman who is also a double Olympic champion at the microphone of the organization, after having tamed a track made difficult by fog and darkness. From the first round, the American had disgusted the rest of the competition by taking a six-tenths lead over Lena Dürr.

As for the French, the podium is still a little far away. But Marie Lamure and Clarisse Brèche made two nice comebacks after starting in the first round with high bibs. The first finished in eleventh place, just ahead of the second, avoiding the pitfalls of a track which knocked out many competitors throughout the day.