CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy – American Mikaela Shiffrin had her winning streak in world championship slalom ended by Katharina Liensberger on Saturday, with the title returning to Austria after 10 years.
Shiffrin had to settle for bronze after winning gold in the slalom in a record four consecutive worlds since Marlies Raich – competing under his maiden name Schild – won in 2011.
This time, Shiffrin finished 1.98 seconds behind Liensberger, who recorded the fastest times in both races. Petra Vlhova, the leader of the general classification and the slalom World Cup in Slovakia, was one second behind the Austrian for silver.
After her triumph in Tuesday’s side event, Liensberger has become a two-time world champion, but she has yet to win on the World Cup circuit.
“I really gave it all today,” said Liensberger. “I worked hard for it, every day in preparation. It’s amazing how it all comes back. If you really want something, the whole universe is happening for you. ”
Shiffrin previously won gold in the combined event and took silver in the giant slalom after opening the worlds with bronze in the super-G. This made her the fifth female skier to win four medals in one of the worlds, and the first since Sweden’s Anja Parson achieved the feat 14 years ago.
“It’s incredible, ” said Shiffrin.” I don’t think there was ever a time when I could have said ‘I win four medals in a world championship.’ But it’s one thing to dream of winning medals, but the moment it counts, having skiing good enough to do it, especially for the world championship to do it four times, is very special. “
Shiffrin’s previous world title came in his record season at the 2018-19 World Cup, winning 17 races on the way to his third overall title.
This season is different for the American. She took a 10-month break from racing last year after the death of her father, Jeff Shiffrin, who was followed by the coronavirus pandemic and a back injury.
“If that were last year, I might be disappointed, but not so grateful for the good times of the day,” said Shiffrin. “Maybe ‘normal’ just changes all the time. I have a different opinion of what normal means now. Here, in these past two weeks, every day has had something really special, and it’s a reason to smile.”