CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — Mikaela Shiffrin is one clean run away from ending an eight-year Olympic medal drought.
The American skiing star nailed her first trip through the women's slalom at Tofane on Wednesday, her time of 47.13 giving her a healthy 0.82-second lead over Germany's Lena Duerr among the early competitors.
The 30-year-old Shiffrin, the most decorated skier of all time, was quick out of the gate but appeared to be in trouble after she stumbled through one gate about halfway down. She recovered quickly and then pumped her first — a rare display of public emotion — when she saw her time.
“I felt like I nailed it with some question marks, but the time was good,” Shiffrin said, who added she had “big energy” when she dropped in.
Cornelia Oehlund of Sweden was third, exactly one second back. Camille Rast of Switzerland is fourth, 1.05 seconds back followed by Swiss teammate Wendy Holdener.
Shiffrin slid into the starter's gate still looking for her first Olympic medal in the Dolomites. A chance at gold in women's combined ended with a fourth-place finish after a stunningly slow run in the slalom — she was 15th — sent her and teammate Breezy Johnson tumbling off the podium.
Things weren't much better — from a placement standpoint anyway — during the giant slalom on Sunday, where she was 11th. Yet Shiffrin remained upbeat, pointing to the tight margin between herself and the medal stand — three-tenths of a second — as proof she was rounding into form.
The reality is a medal in the giant slalom would have been a bonus. She came to Tofane fresh off her first podium finish in the GS in two years and was hardly considered a favorite.
Slalom, however, is different. Shiffrin has already locked up her ninth World Cup season title in her best discipline thanks to seven firsts and a second in eight starts.
Starting seventh beneath crisp bluebird conditions on a course that Team USA officials described to her over the radio as a “high-tempo ripper,” Shiffrin was exquisite. Aggressive out of the gate — her time over the first segment was the fastest among the most accomplished racers — her only wobble came when she struck a gate.
For a fraction of a second, it appeared she was headed for another Olympic disappointment. Not this time. She snapped back into form immediately, her hips almost hypnotically guiding her legs back and forth as she rediscovered the tempo and form that has made her a winner in this event more than 70 times over her record-setting career.
One of those victories came in Sochi a dozen years ago, when Shiffrin stomped her way to gold as a fresh-faced teenager. She's now considered perhaps the greatest racer of all time, though one haunted by an 0 for 6 performance in Beijing four years ago.
Shiffrin was adamant she had put those difficult few days in China behind her when she arrived at the jagged edges of the Dolomites.
If she can put together a second run that mirrors her first, she probably will have.
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