For several weeks there has been nothing but her in the small world of alpine skiing. Retired from the slopes since 2019, American star Lindsey Vonn announced her return, at age 40, a rumor that was made public on Thursday, November 14, through a press release from the American Ski Federation. Five years later, the four-time winner of the World Cup “big balloon” will soon return to the starting gates, without having given a precise date to her fans.
Has her compatriot’s return to business scalded Mikaela Shiffrin, who is not used to sharing the spotlight? The Vail, Colorado native put on a performance on Saturday, Nov. 16 that seemed like a reminder to 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) with 79 hundredths of an advantage over 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 her personal statistics. Here she is with eight successes in the Finnish season, 98 successes in the World Cup (61 of them in slalom, her specialty) and a race towards a sixth title of winner of the World Cup general classification underway. If she managed to win, she would have a good revenge after losing the “big balloon” the previous season against the Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami, missing several weeks of competition due to a big fall.
Already in the lead after the first lap
“It’s a great way to start the season, I’m very happy. It wasn’t 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 organization’s microphone, after having dominated a track made difficult by fog and darkness. From the first round, the American had upset the rest of the competition by taking a lead of six tenths over Lena Dürr.
As for the French, the podium is still a bit far away. But Marie Lamure and Clarisse Brèche made two good comebacks after starting the first round with their numbers high. The first finished in eleventh position, just ahead of the second, avoiding the pitfalls of a track that left numerous competitors out of action throughout the day.
